The Door

It was just a broken door, but I couldn't keep my mouth shut. When I was a campus minister at FSU, I traveled and spoke in lots of different churches. Some churches would even invite me back. One church invited me back for five years in a row. As I entered the church building for the first time, I was greeted by a sign that said, “This door is broken, please use the other door.” Things happen, and they can’t always be repaired immediately. They invited me back the next year. When I arrived the second year, I found the same sign and the same broken door. This occurred again for the third, fourth, and fifth year. Then it happened. I could not keep my mouth shut. When I see things that need to be repaired, I think it should be done. I said, “I have been coming for five years and that front door has been broken for over five years. Don’t you think it is time to get it fixed?” Apparently, I said the wrong thing. I did not get invited back the next year. 

One thing that I often found as I traveled from church to church over the years is that the physical state of the facilities is usually an indication of the inner workings of the church. If they put up with a broken door that you walked by every Sunday, what is the condition of the things that you can’t see like the finances and record keeping or keeping track of the sheep. 

Jesus reminded us to be faithful in the small things and he would entrust us with more. Maybe the reason this church was struggling was that they had not been faithful in the small things. That door was a clear indication that they didn’t deal with problems well. For over 250 Sundays, that door screamed that no one cared enough to take care of a problem that was in clear view. What were the other problems that might be lurking behind the scenes that needed attention. 

One adjustment that we can all benefit from is looking for problems and taking steps to handle the issues. This adjustment could be used in our personal lives, businesses, and our churches. If we dealt with one challenge a week, we could make huge changes over a year. 

By the way, the next time I visited that church two years later, the door was fixed.