I went to seminary at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. It’s located in a massive 1960s glass and steel building. It’s hard to know what the building is. It’s even hard to figure out how where the entrance is. And once you do get in, you’re confronted by steel doors and a stairway going somewhere, but you know not where. It’s not an inviting structure.

I’ve seen modern churches that are like that (not Joy, fortunately). You can’t tell if it’s a church or a dentist’s office, and it’s not always clear where the entrance is. Churches with those kind of facilities are always trying to overcome their uninviting nature.

Actually, that’s probably true of most churches, regardless of the building style. They worry about how to get people into the church. The problem is that they are asking the wrong question. Jesus never talks about getting people into a building. Instead he says, “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved (John 10:9). What we are about as church members is getting people to Jesus.

I confess that the Lutheran church seems obsessed about bodies in buildings. The annual parochial report asks how many people worshiped, how many members there are, how many people joined, but nothing about how many people were told about Jesus. That’s wrong.

Tell people the story of Jesus. Tell them the difference he has made in your life. Remember, our hope comes not from getting into a building, but being one with Jesus. He is the way.

Read John 14:6-7 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne