So, Are We Really Gonna Just Sit Here and Die?

Four lepers and a question every dying church must ask aloud.

"Now there were four men with leprosy sitting near the entrance of the city gates. 'Why should we sit here waiting to die?' they asked each other. 'We will starve if we stay here, but with the famine in the city, we will starve if we go back there. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aramean army. If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have died anyways.'" 2nd Kings 7:3-4, New Living Translation

Picture the scene. Four men stricken with leprosy. Outcasts because ceremonial law pushed them from amongst society and out to the entrance of the gate to the city. However, it is not like they were missing much back in Samaria for a famine had stricken the city to the point where mothers agreed to eat each other's children, a donkey's head sold for the equivalent of $300-$400 today, and the king had placed a hit on the prophet Elisha's life. Before them laid the camp of the Syrian army that had blocked the city into this dreaded famine. Yet, it is between the famine in the city and the enemy's camp ahead of them that these four leprous men asked one of the most thought-provoking questions in all of Scripture, "Why should we sit here waiting to die?"

The question asked was concerning their long-term survival then, but it is a question every decaying, declining, and dying church should take inventory and ask themselves today. Not in a murmur, not in a whisper from a pew, not in a committee room behind closed doors; but out loud for the entire congregation to hear.

Leprous, starving, outcast, and left to die; these four men asked one question that turned a situation going bad to the very breakthrough that they needed and it is the same question that can bring revitalization to a church on the verge of death. Think about the picture below before reading forward.

Identify Where We Are.

At the gate where these four starving leprous men sat behind them a city that could not feed them and before them laid an enemy's camp that could potentially provide a future that paved the way for either a new means of life or a fatal blow that would put them out of their misery. This is where many churches reside today; stuck between a past filled with traditions and precious memories that linger but no longer serve them and a future that they are too afraid to embrace. Before a church can experience revitalization, it must stop pretending that it is not dying and identify its desperation just as the four lepers did.

Deep Dive:

The phrase "why sit we here" implies more than just sitting. It means to settle, to dwell in, and to stay put. It is the position of a person or a people who have become comfortable in the decline that is ultimately leading to their demise. The gate at the entrance to the city then is no different that the pew in the sanctuary now, both have people starving only the church has seemingly made peace with its demise while the lepers determined amongst themselves to do something about their situation.

Do The Math:

Reread the text or take another look at the picture above and listen as the four men do the math out loud as they weigh their options. Notice their first two options. Option 1: If we go back into the city, we will die because of the famine. Option 2: If we sit here, we will also die. Neither of the two known options presented a path to life. This is the reality that every church in need of revitalization faces. Go back to the glory days, die; but if we continue to stay here, the result is also death. They seem safe because they are known, but is there a such thing as a safe death? If so, what difference does it make if it still leads to death? The phrase, "But we've always done it this way" is not a flag to plant, it's a death sentence disguised as faithfulness while "holding up the blood stained banner" as the African American church tends to say.

What makes the story of these four leprous men unique is the fact that they refused to comfortably die. They decided that sitting still was not safe nor sustainable because they were dying in the process. A ministry in need of revitalization must be honest about their bleak reality as well as they look at the empty pews, the aging roster, the lack of community outreach, the disinterest in discipleship and evangelism, along with the decaying building and assess that doing nothing but "wait til Jesus comes" is a decision to die.

Sometimes The Maybe Is Better Than The Certainty.

After doing the math and assessing that the first two options lead to certain death, the lepers considered a third option. They said, "So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aramean army. If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have died anyway." The third option is the only option that presented the possibility for life. Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 5:7, "For we walk by faith, not by sight." faith is not always a full blown, 100% guarantee; but it is a maybe. It is a willingness to step towards the uncertainty with a chance because the option of staying put guarantees nothing but death.

For the church, the Aramean camp is symbolic of whatever ministry ground we have been too afraid to approach: the younger generation we do not know how to reach or connect with, the presence of screens now versus the presence in the sanctuary, and the community that has changed from the one when we first laid the foundational bricks way back when. Church revitalization mandates us to by faith get up from the gate and move towards the uncharted territory we fear; not because it will kill us, but because it just might work and the ministry will live on.

God Moves When We Move.

Herein lies the glory of the text. When the lepers decided to push all their chips in the middle of the table, go for broke on the "maybe," and make their way to the Aramean (Syrian) camp; the camp was a ghost town. The Lord had fixed it so that the army heard the sound of chariots and a great host coming which made the Aramean army flee in the dark. When the four lepers arrived to the camp they found food, silver, gold, and clothing. The way was already made for the four lepers as the four lepers decided to make their way to the enemy's camp. God did not wait for them to arrive to begin working things out for them. He went ahead of them when they decided to step out on faith. Jeff Iorg writes in his book entitled Leading Major Change in Your Ministry, "God sustains major change by interjecting himself at pivotal moments to keep a ministry moving in the right direction."(1)

This is the key to any church revitalization effort. Again, it is not about trying to be like the church down the street or on social media, it is not about adopting a mega-church mentality, and it is not about meetings and manufacturing millennial strategies; but it is about a congregation getting up from where they are dying and steeping out on faith towards the maybe.

Revitalization Is Also About The Revitalized Helping Others.

After the lepers ate and drank, they began to hide the spoil for themselves. After being in their predicament, who would not have done the same? However, a conviction began to come over them and they said, "This is not right. This is a day of good news, and we aren't sharing it with anyone. If we wait until morning, so calamity will certainly fall upon us. Come on, let's go back and tell the people at the palace." 2nd Kings 7:9

Their bellies being full almost got lost in the fact that there was still a city behind them starving and even though they were outcasts, they could not sit on the resources they had found. Church revitalization is not about one church finding enough resources for its own survival, its about sharing those resources with other decaying, declining, and dying churches so they too might rise from the dead and experience new life in ministry.

Call to Action

• Where is our congregation simply sitting and settling?

• Who is willing to ask the question out loud, "why sit we here until we die?"

• What is the "safe" option we are clinging to that is actually leading to our death?

• What is the enemy's camp for our ministry? Digital discipleship and technology? The changing neighborhood? The younger generation?

• Where might have God already gone ahead of us and began to pave the way for revitalization?

• Who is the person or what church ministry are we obligated to go back and share resources with once we experience new life?

1) Iorg, Jeff. Leading Major Change in Your Ministry. Brentwood, TN: B&H Publishing, 2018, 138.