Let the Church Crawl
IllustrationStory★★★★A COUNTRY preacher once delivered a sermon on giving. He said, “Now church, you know we’ve got to go somewhere and so we need the church to walk.” And the deacons lined up on the front row and they said, “Rev, let the church walk. Let the church walk.”
The preacher said, “We’ve got to start moving.” And the deacons said, “Let it walk.” The preacher saw that he had the deacons with him, so he said, “And then after we’ve walked for a little while, church, we’ve got to run.”
The deacons said, “Yeah, let the church run!” He went on preaching, getting the congregation and deacons more excited as he continued. He said, “Then, after we’ve run for a little while, it’s time for the church to fly!
We’ve got to fly!” The deacons said, “Yes, Reverend, we’ve got to fly! We’ve got to fly!” Then the preacher said, “Well, now, you know it’s going to take money for the church to fly.”
The deacons said, “Let it crawl, Rev! Let it crawl!”
The point
A preacher's sermon on giving begins powerfully but when he mentions money, the deacons cry 'Let it crawl!' A humorous exposure of the gap between spiritual rhetoric and sacrificial action.