Analogy of why we do what we do

A few days ago I started a non-regular discussion of why we do what we do at Community Christian Church. You can read that first post here. I want to take another shot at that today with analogy.


Imagine a few friends decide they want to go deep sea fishing. They love fishing and they decide to go. And they want to catch sharks. They go to Bass Pro Shop and they buy some poles. They drive down to the coast, pick up some bait, get in their boat, go out to where other people are fishing. They drop their lines and soon the fish start biting. By the end of the day these guys catch 92 Grouper, 37 Sea Bass and 11 Tuna. By chance, another group of buddies also decide to go and they want to catch sharks. They get together the night before to study up on shark fishing. The next morning they drive to a specialty fishing store and purchase 80lb. class rods with 100 lb. fishing line. They get the right size hooks and a gaff. They also buy a flat of mackerel and some fresh bluefish to use as chum and bait. They go down to the marina, get in their boat, and drive southeast to a pre-determined spot, approximately 30 miles out. This area has a dip in the sea floor and a certain water temperature, making it a far more likely home for sharks. On the way out they troll for fresh bluefish, knowing it will be even more effective in attracting sharks. Two of the guys begin preparing their bait and chunks for the chum. When they arrive, they create a big chum slick. They have learned that sharks are smell driven and will follow a slick to its source. Then, knowing that shark fishing is drift fishing, they chart their drift, based on the wind and tide, to follow the edge of the chosen structure below. Next they set their four baits, putting the deepest the furthest away from the boat, keeping their drags very loose so they can hear the clicker start to move. By the end of the day this boat returns to shore with 7 Grouper, 2 Tuna … and 29 Sharks.

Now it's time to discuss the analogy. Who was more successful? Well it doesn't appear like there ought to be any debate on that IF the goal is to catch sharks. The second group caught sharks. Sure the first group caught more fish and if the goal is numbers then they would win. But they said they wanted to catch sharks. The first gang are really grouper fishermen.

So it’s no surprise where I’m going with this. A lot of churches say "Jesus called us to go and fish for lost people." But it turns out to fish for lost people requires a different kind of bait and a different methodology than catching Christians. So churches go fishing, but they don't go out far and they use the wrong bait. And they catch people but almost no one who is lost. The truth is in America the church mostly is fishing for saved people. If you want to fish for lost people you might in fact have to go places that make saved people uncomfortable (grouper doesn't hang out with sharks unless the grouper is willing to be very uncomfortable).

So back to why do we do some of the stuff we do at Community Christian - we're fishing for sharks.