Scientists in Russia and Japan are hoping to clone a Wooly Mammoth.  You can read about it here: http://news.discovery.com/animals/woolly-mammoth-cloned-111205.html

Seeing a wooly mammoth would be at the top of my bucket list.  I cannot imagine anything cooler—talk about a blast from the past!

Are there any wooly mammoths at your church?  I don’t mean deacons, I mean programs or priorities that are in danger of extinction?  Are there programs about which no one cares?   Before we assume that these programs and priorities should go the way of the Wooly Mammoth, let’s think the issue through. 

Use Sunday evening church services as an example.   Many would suggest that Sunday evening worship services are religious Wooly Mammoths.  In a few years these services may disappear entirely.  Even now they would qualify for the Baptist endangered species list.  But is this a good thing? 

Perhaps this species could survive is there were a cheerleader for them.  Would Wooly Mammoths have survived had some prehistoric Al Gore pointed the downside of extinction?  Would Sunday night services survive if the Pastor said, “People, Sunday is God’s day, not God’s morning!” and made a case for Christian discipleship rather than convenient worship?    Suppose some caveman had realized that if the species survived, there would always be a supply of food and clothing for his family.  Suddenly management of a resource would have replaced immediate survival.  (Wikipedia, everyman’s encyclopedia, indicates both hunting and global warming contributed to their extinction.) Suppose some pastors realized that on Sunday evening you have a chance to transform worshippers to disciples and fully developed believers.  Would this extend the life of the service?

The same arguments could be made about outreach programs, mission organizations, and associations.  We allow these ministries and priorities to go on life support because no one is pointing out how important they are.  No one is saying that “Sunday School is where real ministry takes place.”  No one is reminding the congregation that most of the missionaries on the field have had experience in Royal Ambassadors and G.A.’s.  Everyone assumes that these programs will be replaced with something better.  But this is not the case.  In many instances we are bowing to culture and expedience at the expense of valuable ministry.

But there is good news.  The Wooly Mammoth is being cloned.  It will once again be a part of the environment.  Someday, some smart young pastor is going to say something like “You know, our people only give God half a day, and they really need some help being good Christians at work…, let’s have a Sunday evening service that helps them grow and cope with the demands a lost world places on them.”  He will research, study, and develop a clone of the Sunday evening worship service. 

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