by Elder Peter Lim

Recently, Jonathan Leeman authored an excellent article titled “What To Say To Church Members Leaving For Poor Reasons” on the 9Marks blog. To summarize briefly, he suggested some practical suggestions on how to respond to someone who is trying to make the decision whether to leave a church. I understand why he considers “moving to a different city” to be a “good” reason to leave. I agree with him. However, I think that if he had more time and space to elaborate, he would agree with me that more consideration needs to be given to the reasons why someone would want to move to a different city in the first place. For that matter, people should think more about why they are in the city that they are in now. I am about to reiterate a lot of what I already wrote in “No Better Place on Earth” (Part 1 and Part 2). Here in San Diego, it’s easy to want to be here: great beaches, great weather, friendly people, Phil’s BBQ, usually a good football team, laid-back atmosphere, and it’s not LA. However, when someone asks me why I like San Diego, is it really that the city has all these desirable qualities? Is it because San Diego is truly America’s Finest City? Is it because I have a good job here? Is it because I have family here? What makes a place a good place to be?

In the grand scheme of things, all these reasons are inadequate. Where in the Bible does it say that we should choose where to live based on any of these reasons? For Paul, making tents was something he did just to pay his way for expenses incurred in ministry. He worked in order to do ministry without burdening the churches he ministered to. He didn’t merely do ministry wherever he found a demand for tents and move around for the sake of his business. He wasn’t passionate about creating a tent-making empire nor about increasing business profits. In other words, his reason for moving around was to plant churches and minister to them. Making tents was just incidental to his main purpose, which was to plant churches and strengthen the believers. Too many Christians have been so influenced by the world’s values that they don’t think twice about pursuing a college education or following a particular career path that would take them away from a healthy church situation, not that those things are necessarily bad. In fact, they would elevate some of these goals so highly that they would look down on someone choosing to pursue the pastorate, missionary life, relocation for a church plant at the risk of their careers, or full-time stay-at-home motherhood.

I hope that my call to examine our heart’s motivation for being where we are is received as I am intending… as a loving reminder to live our lives purposefully to minister to the people around us as an effective witness for Christ to the world and not as with a “holier than thou” arrogant attitude if you aren’t thinking like I am. God has placed each one of us where He did in order to minister to the people around us. He has built His church to carry out the mission of bringing the gospel to them. Let’s accomplish our mission with a clear focus on that goal wherever He leads us. That by definition is a good place to be because our good God places us there.