Hank Aaron and the Mission of the Church

Yogi Berra, legendary catcher for the New York Yankees, tells the story of the first time Hank Aaron stepped up to the plate in the 1957 World Series. Yogi noticed that Hank was holding the bat wrong. He said, “Hank, you’ve got the trademark on your bat wrong. Turn it towards you so you can read it.” Hank replied, “Yogi, I didn’t come up here to read. I came to hit.”

Hank Aaron wasn’t concerned with the conventional way to hold a bat. He made a name for himself in the Negro Leagues in the early 1950’s batting cross-handed. He was only concerned with hitting the ball. Considering the he broke Babe Ruth’s all-time homerun record in 1974, I’d say he got the job done. Hank knew his purpose and mission.

I’m afraid that in our churches we sometimes are more concerned with the conventional, traditional ways of doing things that we forget our mission. What is the mission of the Church? Jesus made it pretty clear. At the end of the gospel of Matthew, he gave us what is known as the Great Commission. “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”

I get frustrated when I see churches compromise the Great Commission for the sake of tradition. When churches refuse to change their music style to something more relevant to the culture for the sake of tradition, they’ve lost their focus. When is the last time you heard someone listening to choir music on the radio? When is the last time a robed four-part choir concert sold out an arena? What are these churches thinking? Here’s a thought: Sell the choir robes and the organ on eBay and buy some guitars and a set of drums.

While on a trip to the Holy Land in 1997, I met a pastor who told me about his conversion experience as a young adult. He was sitting on his couch one Saturday morning watching TV when the doorbell rang. It was two neatly dressed men from one of the local Baptist churches. He allowed them to come in and the two men did their part in fulfilling the Great Commission by sharing the good news of Jesus with him. My pastor friend knew this was a divine appointment because he had been struggling spiritually of late and he knew that he needed to get right with God. So he did. The two men prayed with him and he asked Jesus to be Lord of his life. Mission accomplished.

But then one of the two visitors strayed from the mission. Immediately after they said, “Amen,” the leader of the dynamic witnessing duo reached over and began buttoning the top two buttons of the new convert’s shirt. He told his new brother in Christ, “Now, if you’re going to be a Christian, you have to make yourself look presentable at all times.”

What the …..? How the …? Where did that come from?!

The first rule of being a Christian is to button up your shirt?? Holy cow! I guess they sent him to get a haircut that day too. Will someone please tell me about the Church and dress codes? Will someone please let me know why so many churches create a barricade at their front door by making a coat, tie, and polished shoes required for entry? Hank Aaron’s take on this might be, “I didn’t come here for a fashion show. I came here to worship.”

The Church’s refusal to be relevant to its surrounding culture is one key reason why 80% of American churches are dying or stagnant. No wonder 70% of the population is sitting at home on Sunday mornings instead of in our worship services. Over the last 20 years, we’ve made some headway down this path. Thanks to the Baby Boomers, the culturally relevant church has made an obvious impression on the American church. But the Baby Boomers parents are still holding on to convention and they’ve convinced many of their children that their peers have gone overboard. “It’s those hippies from the 60’s,” they say. “They just cut their hair and took a shower but they snuck guitars and drums into the church, took out the King James Bible, and made it into a combination theme park and rock concert. Did you ever see a picture of that California hippie pastor, Rick Warren, when he was young? His hair came down to his collar. And that Bill Hybels in Chicago took a bunch of hippies to start that megachurch of his. They’re all just a bunch of Woodstock alumni claiming to do church the right way.”

The Baby Boomers began to turn the ship away from convention and now the generation that followed them (Gen X) is knocking the ball out of the park like Barry Bonds on steroids. (Of course, um, if Barry Bonds was on steroids. But I digress…). It seems like I hear about a new church every week with a bright, young, creative pastor at the plate hitting homeruns. Thank God. Who cares how you hold the bat when you are tagging all four bases with one swing?

I say we need more Hank Aaron’s at the plate. Let’s get the job done with a “whatever it takes” attitude. Let the Bible be our guide, not convention or tradition, and let’s keep swinging for the fence.