BY MICHELLE L. OETMAN

T WAS RAINING ICE IN MARYland the December morning I inched my car along the glassy roads leading to the airport, where I hopped a short flight that landed me in sunny Bermuda. It was my first time to Bermuda, our host discovered, and concluded that a tour of the island was a must.

We had perused a museum, moseyed through shops, stuck our toes in the ocean's sand, and were headed home when we passed it. Quickly. But in the seconds it filled my vision, I knew I had to return.

It's been given a self-explanatory name--simply the unfinished church. It's an incredible ruin, a teasing of its intended architecture. The politics and history behind the project, however, are unsettling. It was begun in the 1870s as a replacement for St. Peter's church, considered too deteriorated to be worth saving. But financial difficulties, dissent within the parish, and finally severe storm damage caused the project to be abandoned for good. Today members still occupy St. Peter's church, now believed to be the oldest Anglican place of worship in the Western Hemisphere.

Hearing the story of its truncated life, my mind began to recite: "In my Father's house are many rooms. . . . I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:2, 3).* These verses remind us that there's another magnificent structure prepared and awaiting our occupation. It's bigger and better than the territory we now inhabit. And yet it, too, is unoccupied. And until we finish Christ's great commission (Matt. 28:19, 20), it will remain unoccupied. So here we are, you and I, the unfinished church.

At work recently a woman closed her worship talk with the question "How long would it take for God's work to finish if everyone did as much toward finishing the Great Commission as you do--no more, no less?" If I answered honestly, the correct answer would be "forever." People like me create an unfinished church. That conclusion has bothered me.

What about you? Are you satisfied with an unfinished church? Do you want to be something historians snicker at? Do you want your glorious home to slip from your fingers and remain unoccupied? Will we allow the storms of life and dissent among ourselves to keep us an unfinished church?

I wish you could see the skeletal structure of that unfinished church. It makes me sick to think of the loss--how a body of people allowed dissent to keep them from finishing the church. What's keeping us from being a finished church? And on a more personal level, what can I do to be a church finisher? Here's what I've been thinking . . .

Church Finishers Give a Declaration
of Interdependence
Hebrews 10:23-25 says, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

I believe a finishing church has an unwritten sentiment of a declaration of interdependence--the recognition and mirrored behavior that says, "We need one another." I see that on two levels: First, why is it that when someone is in a bad situation, when someone knows they've done wrong or been wronged, the church is the last place they want to be? Why isn't it the place of refuge they rush to? Why isn't it perceived as a hospital for sinners rather than as a country club for saints?

I read an article in the Review recently of one such person's experience. Her life's story included children out of wedlock, a broken marriage, and a criminal record. Embarrassed, she slid out of the church and painfully never heard from its members. But God didn't let her go, and He lovingly reminded her that He missed her. And she came back. Those who leave and those who stay need to remember that God misses each person who leaves. I've learned from my friends who have left the church that their absence robs those of us who remain of the honor of sharing their burdens, growing through their experience, benefiting from their gifts, and allowing God to mold our lives through exposure to their situations. If, as members, we create a church that arrogantly excludes and withholds love from those in unlovely situations, we're robbing them of the love and support God wishes to extend to them, through His human hands on earth, His church--you and me.

Second, in Ephesians 2 God talks about reconciling two groups of people--Jews and Gentiles. Our church is no longer separated along these lines, but there's a generation gap that threatens to keep us an unfinished church. Verses 13-16 and 22 of that chapter state, "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. . . . His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. . . . And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."

I realize people have been hurt on both sides of our generation gap. Young people have been treated cruelly by veterans of the church who equate salvation with the color or length of hair, what's hanging from an earlobe or encircling a finger, the type of musical instruments onstage, or the style of clothing worn down the church aisle. We're seldom considered for board membership, seldom a delegate for church meetings, and still considered "the future of the church" rather than "the church."

But there's another side. We've hurt the seasoned members of the church. At times we've been disrespectful, closed-minded, one-track, and "in your face," not recognizing your worship needs are met in different ways than ours or seeing the incredible value in the depth and length of your walk with God. Members of both sides are guilty, and it's resulted in an unfinished church. It's time for apologies, new thinking, and moving forward. Neither group can finish this work alone. To finish this church, we need to destroy the barrier and be built together to become a dwelling in which God lives.

Church Finishers Uphold Church Leadership
I grew up on the inside of the church. That has its positive aspects, but can also be a waiting land mine. I learned very soon that leadership at all levels of the church is comprised of mere humans. As such, unfortunately, I grew up critical, cynical, and with little respect for most church leaders. That changed when I read what Gilbert Bilezikian, Th.D., in Christianity 101 and Community 101, so eloquently penned, "For God, the church is the centerpiece of history. He draws all that is dear and durable from the world and from the passing generations to gather a pilgriming people destined to be the showcase of His grace for eternity. To this magnificent project He devotes all that He has, including the gift of Himself in the person of His Son. From a divine perspective, the formation of that community of oneness is what history is all about. The church is God's most precious possession. The making of the church justified His most costly investment and His dearest sacrifice."

It's amazing that something that precious He left in the hands of humans. And every person who's been charged with the awesome responsibility of leading His prized possession deserves our prayers and support. God has placed each one there for a reason and a time. It did absolutely no good for me to be critical of their leadership. Instead, I should have brought my comments to God, their supervisor. It was sobering to realize that I had been criticizing "God's most precious possession. . . . [What had] justified His most costly investment and His dearest sacrifice." People with the tear-down attitude I had destroy churches under construction.

Church Finishers Don't Get Stuck in the Bunker
Finishing the church reminded me of a short comment Christian author Max Lucado made on his radio show when comparing Christians to soldiers. In times of war, circumstances sometimes force soldiers to remain in a bunker for long periods of time. At first it's a place of refuge, but after a while there's grumbling, restlessness, criticism, discontent, and dissension. Why? Because soldiers aren't made to be in bunkers; they're made to be on the battlefield. You can't win the war in the bunker. And you can't finish the church in the bunker we call a pew. Churches are a place of refuge at times, a place to rejuvenate and create a battle plan. But we're created to be on the battlefield. Just like soldiers stuck in the bunker, Christians who don't get out onto the battlefield start grumbling, become discontented, and critical. There's dissension in the ranks, and discouragement.

Soldiers can win the war only if they're on the battlefield, just like Christians can finish the church only if they're on the battlefield. We need to get out more. That means getting messy, bloody, and bruised. It means being compassionate toward and authentically involved in the lives of non-Christians. Making it a priority of our time, finances, and facilities to search and rescue the lost. Until we do, we'll remain an unfinished church.

Church Finishers Are Few, but Not Alone
We live in a world where it seems that good seldom triumphs. Those who stand for right often stand alone. The marriage of the Israelite king Ahab with the heathen Jezebel illustrates what happens when God's people become absorbed into the world. For Elijah, it seemed he alone stood for God. But God encouraged him in 1 Kings 19:18: "Yet I reserved seven thousand in Israel--all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him."

We need to remember and be encouraged by the fact that God has always worked through a remnant. And when we look at the state of our neighborhoods, our culture, and our world, we as Christians can't shake our heads and point the blame to crack houses and bars. As stated in 2 Chronicles 7:14, the responsibility for healing our land lies with us, God's people: "If my people . . . will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." Church finishers, the remnant, may be few; but they're not alone. Remember, the world is being evangelized through the work that began with just one Man and 11 disciples. If we want to heal this land and finish the church, let's be pray-ers, seekers of God's face, and people who turn from their ways, submitting to God's will.

Church Finishers Finish the Race
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (Heb. 12:1).

"Throw off everything that hinders you" means anything and anyone that keeps you from fulfilling God's plan for your life and finishing His church. I've come to realize that that affects my choice in career, jobs, relationships, and my time. It's difficult to obey, but tragic to ignore.

I believe our birth signifies God passing the baton of our life's work into our hands with the commission, "Finish the work I started." I can hear Him saying, "Run the race of the life I've purposed for you. Drain yourself of all the blessings and gifts I've given to you and use them to reveal Me to those around you. And when you stumble or are tempted by distractions and fatigue, persevere!"

Persevering. That's the difficult part. And all of us bear scars of stumbles in our life's race. That's because someone's running the race with you every step of the way. He's distracting; at times he may seem undefeatable and you'll feel like quitting the race. He knows your every weakness, when to make a move and how to keep you from winning the race. Above all, he wants to see you, Christ's child, defeated. If we want to be church finishers, we must keep our eyes on the One at the finish line, His coaching eyes intent on you every moment. And the word on His lips is "Persevere," as He waits to celebrate the victory at the finish line. Church finishers are people who believe: "I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me" (Acts 20:24).

Church Finishers Live in Anticipation
of Going Home
I had only one summer camp experience, and it was horrible. I was about 8 years old, my sister, Lisa, a year and a half older. We went together. She cracked first. We arrived on Sunday. She was homesick by Monday. I think I lasted until Tuesday. We called home and told our parents that if they really loved us, they'd drive the eight hours and come get us. My sister told me every morning that we were probably going home that day and instructed me to pack up, including rolling up our sleeping bags. Still my parents didn't come. Then I cut my toe in swimming class, and the camp doctor wrapped a huge bandage around it. It hurt and was inconvenient, but I was glad. We used it as ammunition on the phone that night, suggesting to my parents that I should probably come home to be under the care of our family doctor. My parents told us we had to stick it out till the end. But still Lisa told me to keep my stuff packed and to roll up my bed every day.

We eventually went home--at the end of the week, when the time was right. Crazy kids, you say. It's funny--now. But in reality our actions should be emulated in preparing for our heavenly home. "The love of the world and the deceitfulness of riches eclipse our faith, and we do not long for, and love, the appearing of our Saviour. . . . I have been shown that God's people who profess to believe present truth are not in a waiting, watching position. They are increasing in riches and are laying up their treasures upon the earth. They are becoming rich in worldly things, but not rich toward God. They do not believe in the shortness of time; they do not believe that the end of all things is at hand, that Christ is at the door" (Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 196).

Instead of getting comfortable here, we should be rolling our beds up every morning in anticipation that maybe today we'll go home. Maybe today our Dad will come and get us. Until going home becomes our overriding goal and passion, we'll remain an unfinished church.
Let me ask you the same question that started my thinking and growing: "How long would it take for God's work to finish if everyone did as much toward finishing the Great Commission as you do--no more and no less?" Are you a church finisher or satisfied to be part of an unfinished church?

I don't want to be part of something that historians snicker at, and tourists gawk at and shake their heads at the loss of the home left unclaimed. I don't want to be known as the unfinished church. But to be a church finisher takes courage, conviction, humility, and obedience. It takes a declaration of interdependence, upholding our leadership, getting out on the battlefield, being few but not alone, searching and rescuing, persevering to the finish line, and living in anticipation of going home. If we do what it takes, we'll receive the prize promised to the finished church: "You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, 'He who is coming will come and will not delay'" (Heb. 10:36, 37). And at last, the church will be finished.

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*All biblical references are from the New International Version.

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Michelle L. Oetman is the public relations manager for the marketing and development bureau of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland.