Mike Edmisten Follower of Jesus. Husband of Nicki. Father of Ryan & Brock. Communicator of the Word.

The Disproportionate Church

We need to declare war on the word "balanced."

We are told that the key to a happy, healthy life is balance. You can't focus on one thing too much because then you'll neglect something else.  Everything must be balanced.

Actually, I don't want to live a balanced life. And I definitely don't want to be part of a balanced church. The church should proudly and boldly live a disproportionate life.

A balanced church is going to attempt to do everything. That church needs a men's ministry, women's ministry, singles ministry, quilting ministry, hunting ministry, seniors ministry, skateboarding ministry, youth ministry, recovery ministry, coffee ministry, and classic car ministry.

For the record, I know of churches who have every one of those ministries I listed. And I'm not criticizing those ministries at all. I'm sure that God is doing good things in all of them.

But the point is that no church can do all of them.  A balanced church will try…and fail.

A disproportionate church will simply decide what specific things God is calling them to do…and then devote a disproportionate amount of time and resources to do it.

Our church has a very simple vision: Connecting, Growing, Serving.

We believe God has called us to create experiences where people who are far from God can connect with Him. That's why a disproportionate amount of time and energy is put into every single worship service. You wouldn't believe the detailed planning leading up to our services and the detailed review that follows our services.  It's purposely disproportionate.

We believe that God has called us to help people grow to become more like Jesus.  And we believe that happens best in a small group.  So, we have a disproportionate amount of focus on our small groups.

We believe that God has called us to serve, so we are laser-focused on getting every single one of our people involved in ministry, both inside and outside the church. It gets a disproportionate amount of our attention.

Our children's ministry, our student ministry, and our adult ministry are all aligned around this simple vision. If something falls outside our vision, we aren't going to do it. Not because we think it's bad.  It might actually be a very good thing…it's just not our thing.

We are not balanced. We are, to the glory of God, a disproportionate church.