"The happiest place on earth"... Disney or The Church

Friday and Saturday I had a wonderful weekend with Amber and the kids at Disney (to clear things up, yes that is a Minnie Mouse doll in my hand, Madi made me hold it for the picture). As we were leaving on Saturday afternoon, I saw a minivan that had written on the windows in shoe polish, "Headed to the happiest place on earth!" You have to agree Disney is pretty magical. Upon checking into our hotel Friday afternoon I looked over at another desk registrar and saw the clerk giving a Disney sticker to one of the children in line. Madi and Lily were in the stroller, so I asked our clerk if I could have a sticker, "Just one", I said. I knew Lily could care less about a sticker of Mickey. The lady replied, "Just one?" I replied, "Yeah, just one, unless you want to give me more." She then began to pull off the roll of stickers two or three arm lengths and handed them over to me with a smile and said, "Have a magical day". Madi about fell on the floor when I showed her the gigantic roll of Mickey Mouse stickers (A four year old can only handle so much, Lily on the other hand just wanted to eat them). Before we got on the bus to the Magic Kingdom I counted the stickers. I asked the lady for one, "just one", and she gave me a roll of 29! Then it hit me, "That's why Disney is the happiest place on earth!"

Why isn't the church the happiest place on earth, I thought to myself? Why shouldn't the church be the happiest place on earth! It should! We've got the life changing message of Jesus Christ! Hopefully, it's changed our lives. Jesus puts a high value on people and so should we. When visitors come to church do they feel important? Do they feel like the people of Promise Land went the extra mile for them? When a new student visits on Wednesday night or Sunday morning do we make them feel like they are the most important person there? Or do they sit alone, waiting for someone to reach out to them. Yeah the Gospel confronts sin, people can take offense at that. That's ok, that's the truth of scripture. But, there's no reason why people visiting our ministries shouldn't ever think, "That's the happiest place on earth". The church is the Body of Christ, we have been changed by the Gospel. This life is no longer about me, it's about other people. That's what makes Disney the happiest place on earth, when you go there you feel "important", you feel like "you matter". Other people matter to God! Especially those visiting our ministries. Let me challenge you, the next time you see a visitor, try your best to make that person (or family) "feel important" so they can have a reason to think that the church is the happiest place on earth. Disney should never have an edge over the church!