BRIDGE

In the words of George Gallup: 'A church rooted in the living Lord is a church that encourages people to move beyond their comfort zones and invest themselves in face-to-face, person-to-person, hands-on kinds of ministries.

I used to think I wanted to live on an island. Seems so romantic and -- well -- just flat-out cool.

Joelene and I were in Victoria, British Columbia in June -- on Vancouver Island. It really felt like a neat place to live. Same with other islands we've been on: Catalina Island, Washington Island in Door County, even those little islands big enough for a house that you see out in the middle of a river. Just seems quaint, serene, private and undisturbed to me.

For centuries, residents of Prince Edward Island, off Canada's eastern coast, enjoyed that kind of existence. Once described as 'two huge beaches separated by potato fields,' islanders were separated from the rest of humanity by nine miles of ocean.

From that disconnected atmosphere sprung Anne of Green Gables. Red-haired, pig-tailed, freckled, innocent. Anne became a powerful and defining symbol for the island's image. She was also fictional. Yet, it was her fame that attracted outsiders.

The government of Canada eventually built a bridge connecting the mainland to P.E.I. (pictured above). With the completion of that bridge came tourism. Unsettling, disturbing, noisy. Anne dolls, Anne potato chips, Anne t-shirts, Anne restaurants, golf courses, wax museums and rental bungalows.

One thing remains certain - with the completion of the bridge, the island will never be the same.

A church can be an island. Not only may it fail to construct bridges to the world, it may even doubt the necessity of such a costly and difficult work. Exiled from its true purpose, the church retreats, focused on programs and good images - all of which are helpful but also fueled by ongoing introspection. The walls of isolation soon turn into mirrors. Church members desperately needing to live lives of purpose end up just looking at each other.

Living this way, the church soon forgets which direction God has called it to pursue. On an island, the church is always lost.

Then someone - some well-meaning but dangerous dreamer - has the audacity to introduce a church referendum: to build a bridge. To go out there. All the way to them. And ultimately --- suddenly --- them is here. Such a connection will bring with it change, challenge - and yes, conflict.

Most church people just instinctively know: a bridge changes everything.

And be blessed.