The Church Washing Machine

Pastor Deneff gets his main point across with a parable of washing machines. Older washing machines loaded from the top and had something called an agitator in the middle. This agitator beat the clothes by spinning, knocking the dirt loose off of them.

When Deneff saw a front-end loading washing machine for the first time, he was puzzled. Where is the agitator? The salesman explained. In the front-end loader approach, you use less water and the clothes beat against each other to knock the dirt free.

What a brilliant parable of the church, Deneff thought! In the church, God uses us in community to “beat the dirt” off each other by us knocking into each other. We are not left to our own devices or our private world where we can hide our struggles, sins, and misunderstandings. In the community of faith, we are held accountable for our struggles and temptations. Our misunderstandings can be redirected.

Then Dr. Deneff clarifies his sense of this parable in relation to the church. A church where everyone basically watches is like the top-loading washing machine. Maybe there is a high-powered preacher or a great worship band. You go and watch, or maybe you watch online from home. But you don’t bump into anyone else. You are an individual alongside other individuals. You are not quite the body of Christ.

Deneff urges us to find a community where we can bump into each other. “Iron sharpens iron,” Proverbs 27:17 says. In a true community of faith, we work with each other. We carry out the mission together. We learn and grow together. We hold each other accountable. We bump into each other so that while we are “knocking things off” the other person, they are also knocking the dirt off of us as well.

Many of us don’t like conflict. (Others of us enjoy conflict too much – that’s a different sermon.) Those of us who avoid conflict don’t like tension. We look for the situations and contexts that require the least effort. We might enjoy a community where everyone looks like us, thinks like us, and worships like us. How nice to hear sermons about other people and not have to worry about being challenged about who we are. Then we don’t have to think or change much.

However, there is value in spending some significant time with people who think differently than we do. There is value in being around people who love us enough to ask how we are doing and whether we are living up to our commitment to Christ. We need some people in our lives who are going to knock the dirt off our lives.