When Passengers Design a Ship
How go-cart tracks, karaoke, and crepe stations can either lead us to our purpose or become our purpose
I've got a fun assignment for you. I want you to build a ship that you're going to be on awhile. No, a great flood is not coming (and I'm not God.) So you're going to build a ship; what would you build? You need more information, right? You probably want to ask questions like-
Where is the ship going?
How long will I be on the ship?
What is there to do on the ship?
Who's going to be on the ship with me?
What's the purpose of the ship?
Ok, so assume you don't have answers to those questions except you have to be on it for some period of time. What would you build? Built for war or pleasure? Would it be for friends and family or open to the public? Would it be for exploration, education, entertainment, or bit of everything?
My family enjoys going on cruises; we've been on many across four different cruise lines. Last Fall we did our first transatlantic cruise on a brand new ship that was making its first transatlantic cruise and we left from the same port and followed a similar path as the Titanic. Spoiler Alert: we didn't hit an iceberg. This new ship, the Norwegian Prima, had amazing amenities including a three level go-cart track on the top of the ship. One of our favorite ports on the cruise was Reykjavik, Iceland.
We've cruised so much, in fact, my daughter now asks not "where are we going?" but "what's the ship like?" and "when is it?" The "when is it?" question is because of her memory of a 12-day cruise we took in January 2020 where by day 10, most of the ship had this dry, hacking cough; I wonder what caused that? But it isn't the coughing that makes her ask that question but the fact that there aren't many teenagers that can go cruising outside of school vacation for twelve days. In addition to the older passenger list on that particular cruise, it was an older ship as well; very few recreational amenities.
On these longer cruises, yes you can have fantastic ports of call but, the days at sea feel longer especially when you've already had a number of days on the ship already. One of our favorite activities on those sea days is karaoke. We can all sing a bit, but we love seeing the joy of other people singing songs we would never pick or attempt. Everyone just enjoying each other’s joy no matter how it sounds!
The other favorite amenity of my family is the after dinner crepe station. But not all the ships have them and those that do often only have it on certain nights of the cruise. Why not every night?!
But back to the exercise…
Where is the ship going?
How long will I be on the ship?
What is there to do on the ship?
Who's going to be on the ship with me?
What's the purpose of the ship?
I like for people to go through this hypothetical situation and then talk about church. Because, oftentimes, we ask the same sorts of questions when choosing a church, our involvement, and weighing whether we’re jumping ship:
Where is the church going?
How much time will I spend at the church?
What is there to do at the church?
Who's going to be at the church with me?
What's the purpose of the church?
When you went through the mental exercise of building your ship, you almost certainly thought about your interests, preferences, and perspective; it's only natural. One of you might have gone for the, "I'm going to build a ship that rakes the ocean of all man-made plastics!" Bless you. In another time and place, I might have said "a research vessel that exclusively studies sea otters" (one of my all-time favorite creatures.)
But if we think of the church as a ship, going somewhere, with a purpose, with people, these are powerful questions to consider:
How much of the purpose and energy is dedicated to the passengers on the ship?
How much of the purpose and energy is dedicated to reaching not-yet passengers and training up passengers to become new crew members?
It's my experience, in the past 20 years of ministry and interaction with the church, that most churchgoers are firstly concerned with their week in, week out experience on the ship instead of where the ship is going and training themselves up to reach those not yet on the ship.
One potential cause is that many of us that come from within the American church have been taught a gospel that focuses on rugged American individualism and independence--a message of “me”, “me first” and “I can do it myself.” Even “Jesus died for me” is a message of individualism as opposed to “God so loved the world…”. So we’re programmed to think that by focusing on our own needs and desires, we will be able to achieve success, be happy, and want for nothing. But this is not the kind of gospel Jesus preached.
Jesus calls us to put aside our individual preferences and focus instead on putting others before ourselves. That’s what Jesus did by coming to Earth, after all. He teaches us to love one another unconditionally, serve our neighbors compassionately, and care for those in need generously. Instead of striving for personal gain, he encourages us to put aside any sense of entitlement or privilege and embrace a life of humility and self-sacrifice.
The gospel of Jesus is not one that glorifies individualism, but rather emphasizes the importance of interdependence and community. When we put our faith in him, we’re called to be part of something bigger than ourselves--to build a world where God's love is shared freely and abundantly as we work to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. We’re promised that if we are faithful to this call, our lives will be filled with joy and purpose that no amount of individualistic striving can ever achieve.
My Italian grandfather took his transatlantic pilgrimage to Canada and then crossed into New York just after the turn of the century. My 8th great-grandfather was literally a pilgrim; he brought his son and family Bible to the New World in the 1600s. Neither were taking a pleasure cruise. Both had the end destination in mind along with others making the same pilgrimage seeking a better life.
Imagine with me just one more time:
God calls you. He says, “I am building a place for you, a New World with no more tears where you receive everlasting life and it’s available to all that would live for Me and grow in the likeness of my Son. I want you to build a ship, I will guide you, but I want your ship to be able to reach every nation to pick up all that would accept this now and future gift.”
What kind of ship will you build?
Where is the ship going?
How long will you be on the ship?
What is there to do on the ship?
Who's going to be on the ship with you?
What's the purpose of the ship?
If I were to answer God’s call to build His ship, I would want to build a ship where people could board even if they didn’t completely understand where we were going and why. We’ve got time to address that and we’ll be stopping at lots of ports if folks don’t want to go where we’re going. I’d have both times of celebration for where we were going and Who we were going to but also times of education around why the ship needs to be accessible to all and why we need to make so many stops at so many ports. I would want to educate why this voyage is not about the comfort of our passengers along the journey, but the adoration of the One who planned the cruise and the training up of passengers to become sacrificial crew members that want to see as many as the ship can hold reach our Ultimate destination.
It’s not that we get rid of water slides, go-cart tracks, and crepe stations; those might have influenced us to jump onto the ship in the first place and led us to a watershed moment where we say, “I want to move to the crew’s quarters; give me a job on the ship. Free up my balcony cabin for a new passenger.” If we keep our eyes trained on our final port of call and who is waiting for us there, remembering that He wants more than just us there and He’s given us the mission of bringing more than just us there, that will even lead us to change the ship’s amenities and schedule when we reach a new port of call.
Cruise ships regularly change their menus when they reach different ports, not only to use local produce but to expose passengers to other dishes. A certain menu was enjoyed by most when the ship left our shores but by the time we reach a different time zone, the palates and preferences for those in that region and generation that are prospective passengers might be significantly different. If the purposes of the ship are:
the mission,
the destination,
and passengers being trained up to become the crew,
then the changes to reach the locals are celebrated because of the ship’s ever-growing manifest of new passengers (and future crew.) When go-carts, crepe stations, and our favorite menu items become our purpose, we make the journey about ourselves instead of others.
In Matthew chapter 28, Jesus gives His disciples their purpose-
18 Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
That is the Great Captain’s design. We all start as passengers. We all have preferences for what we want our church/ship experience to be. And our churches have plenty of passengers. I’m telling you that your church, wherever you’re located, needs more crew members and servants sacrificing their preferences to fulfill the mission God has given your church to reach those ports in your community and around the world that God wants you to reach.
The greeting at our final port of call will be worth serving on the crew:
“Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
In the meantime, on these long sea days, let’s remember our purpose and destination. And next Sunday (another sea day,) let’s make a joyful noise to our Heavenly Father at karaoke, no matter which songs people choose.