By Claudia DeVuono

(Claudia DeVuono is on staff at McLean Bible Church and is participating in the Future Leaders Program. Claudia works for Kids Quest as a Volunteer Coordinator.)

Do you ever wonder what we’re missing? As a church, I mean. It seems we’re always searching for something – different bible study, more fellowship, better mentoring, deeper books – healthier faith.

I recently returned from an amazing eight-day mission trip to the Dominican Republic with The Rock Student Ministries, which rocked my world. We washed the feet of hundreds of children and gave them new shoes, ministered to an orphanage, built a house, ran baseball clinics, held 12 church services and a crusade festival, and evangelized everywhere we went. We saw hundreds of lives changed and many new brothers and sisters come to the Lord’s table. I would say that, all in all, the trip was pretty successful and I felt more alive than ever, but upon my arrival home I felt a nagging question arise – “What now?” The answer was clear. “Be my hands and feet. Be a missionary no matter where you are.”

So instead of telling all about the experiences of the DR Missions Team (which is one small blip on the eternal radar screen), let me instead cast a vision that I hope will put our focus, as leaders, into better perspective. I will start by defining two key words. Our word Church comes from the Greek Ecclesio, which means “to inhale“. In contrast, Missio is the Greek root for our Missions, meaning “to exhale“.

During my days of competitive ballroom dance I learned a few very interesting ways of practicing, such as singing while dancing. The first time I gave my coach a funny look and asked what my singing had to do with my dancing, he said, “Do you have any idea why you get so out of breath when you dance?” I gave the typical answer and he went on to explain about proper breathing.

“As you inhale, you fill your lungs with air, but you don’t ever fully exhale – or worse, you hold your breath. In this way, CO₂ builds up in your lungs. Each time you exhale, a little more builds up until you are completely out of breath. The reason we sing while we dance is to practice pushing all of the CO₂ out. Don’t worry about fully inhaling. Your body will naturally take care of that.”

I believe this is the phenomenon we see in the church today.

As a church body, we focus on the aspect of breathing that we will do naturally. We inhale – but we never fully exhale. After all, it’s uncomfortable. Don’t believe me? Try it. No really. Try it right now! Uncomfortable, right?

But how much sweeter is the air when you inhale?
Now keep going…

How much faster does your blood flow?

How much warmer does your body become?

Think of what would happen if the Blood of Christ were to flow as quickly through His Body! Think of what would happen if the Body of Christ became heated in the same way!

What would happen if we practiced fully exhaling?

As leaders, we have the power to catalyze such change if we can only shift our own focus. So the question remains…

Will you?