I was reminded this past Sunday of two people – once in membership with us – who are now pressing on with the Lord in another church in another part of the country. Both folks were moved on from us for reasons beyond their control. Both were mercifully located near a church that would teach them the gospel. This past Sunday one of them was being baptised and a few of our members had gone to see it. As they were there, they also saw another of our former members too.

The reason this reminder is useful to me is for several reasons. The main issue is that we have a ministry with a high turnover. There are a whole host of reasons for it. But it is particularly stark amongst our asyklum seekers.

There are three basic reasons people move on. Some are moved by the government, placed in different housing outside the area for reasons completely beyond their control.

Others press into the church, but when they receive their right to remain, suddenly find themselves caught up with the need to secure housing, work and other such things. Very often, they find themselves in low-end jobs with unsympathetic bosses who make little room for their desire to meet with God’s people. It is always difficult to tell the difference between those who are dragged into difficult circumstances against their will and those who get drawn away by the ‘cares of the world’ of their own volition. In the end, the outcome is largely the same.

Others still – we must leave room for such things – are those who were simply out to get some evidence to bolster their claim. They may press in, say the right things and appear credible but no sooner than their right to remain is granted, off they go. We cannot escape the reality that some will use the church for less than godly reasons. It is sometimes evident and we have reasonable processes in place to judge these things, but in the end, no system is perfect and we certainly don’t pretend to have perfect judgement in these things. We simply do our best and judge things by credible criteria as best we can.

Nevertheless, the fundamental end point is the same. We pour into people only to find they disappear for a set of familiar and disappointing reasons. There are those for whom these things are entirely beyond their control and those who end up moving on due to their own choices. Both mean members of the church moving away, both are disappointing in their own way, but the former garners more sympathy from us than the latter.

Even when people move on, much as we try our best to link them up with churches nearby (and their desire to go is a meaningful test of where they were at) sometimes there simply isn’t anything credible where they have been placed. Other times, there is a good church nearby and we do our best to link people up, but distance and the regularity with which these things happen make it hard for us to do much more than we do. We often don’t hear much from people once they have moved and, when we do, the noises are not always positive as far as their ongoing walk with Jesus is concerned.

Which is why it is a delight to hear that two folks wh we linked up with a local church when they moved are still going. Indeed, not just going to the church, but involved in various bits of ministry and are going on to be baptised and welcomed into membership where they are. It may not redound to the benefit of our membership list and Sunday morning congregation, but it is good to know that ministry that began with us has come to fruition and is bearing fruit elsewhere for the sake of the kingdom.

This sort of things always raises some existential questions. If not quite existential, then perhaps teleological ones. What are we actually doing here? What is the point of what we are doing? Are we just wasting our time? These things are particularly acute when we struggle to even maintain contact with some who move on, but it is still a live question when we do.

In the end, isn’t the point of our ministry, your ministry, indeed any ministry, the glory of God and the good of his kingdom? We are not really here to make our church big nor are we here to make sure everybody thanks us for everything we have done for them. We are here because we believe the Lord has many people here. We are here to share the gospel with those who don’t know Jesus yet and to build up those who do. And if they don’t stay with us, isn’t it enough to get to glory and see people there that we were privileged to have a hand in bringing to faith and discipling to maturity in Christ?

Let’s put it this way, we might be for decades and see no fruit. We might see some fruit but see it all head off elsewhere. We might never become big or significant on any level. But we have been given a ministry by the Lord to do here. We are called to share the gospel with those he gives us contact with and to build up those he brings to us. We are called to be faithful in this work, and maybe by the end of my ministry the church will be the same size as when I started, and most the people we engaged move on. But what will that matter in glory if, when I get there, we see these guys are there too? Won’t that be glory to God and a privilege to have been involved in any way in getting them there? Hearing even one person in Heaven say, ‘I first started thinking about this in Oldham when I came across Bethel Church…’ won’t that be enough? I think that will be more than worth it.

So what an encouragement it is to hear of two folks pressing on with Jesus, who first began to believe while they were in Oldham. What a privilege to have had any hand in their coming to faith. We pray that the Lord will uphold them and keep them where they are now. That they will learn and grow so that, one day, we will we them in glory and thank God for his goodness to both them and us.