“Erased from existence.” That’s one of the lines from Back to the Future when Doc Brown sees the photograph of Marty’s brother & sister disappearing.

Some people wonder why they exist at all. Hopelessness zooms in on them and a feeling of exasperation and desperation takes over. But there is also another way to look at this idea of existence, one which I have had to grapple with.

WHY DOES THE CHURCH EXIST?

Sunday I used 2 Corinthians 5: 16-21 when I talked about how grace comes from me. Verse 17 is the starting point: I am a new man in Christ. It is absolutely essential to see that as the starting point not the end. But Paul continues by talking about “as we have been reconciled God has also given us the ministry of reconciliation.” That begs the question: why does the church exist? I came up with a few ideas:

We don’t exist to make people happy. Talk about an impossible task!

We don’t exist to push for social and political change. It is not wrong to be involved in helping stomp out the drug trade or sex trafficking, but they are by-products of our faith.

We don’t exist to be inoffensive, upbeat, and inclusive of all beliefs and people. Yes, our doors ought to be open, but we don’t exist to give people a safe place to come for false hope.

We don’t exist to defend a doctrinal position. Having a belief system is important, but we don’t exist to be the last bastion of truth.

So…why do we exist? We are, according to Paul, called to be agents of reconciliation. The message of God’s love was never meant to be kept to ourselves. The reason I believe we exist is left out for a reason.

Why do you think the church exists?