It’s a Tough Job…

“As time passes, more people are hurt by Christians, so our job and message is that much tougher.”

I wrote those words while waiting for the service to start last Sunday morning. As I sat in the pew and stared at the pipe organ, choir and baptismal, it occurred to me that as Christianity gets older, as ‘the gospel is spread,’ more people are hurt and offended by the behavior of those who claim to come in the name of Christ.

Albeit fatalist, one notion is to stop. Stop Christianity altogether. Stop the ride and let everyone get off. Quit sending missionaries, quit building churches and quit doing good. This way, no one is offended; no one gets hurt by another Christian group doing something stupid, and no one loses.

While certain groups sometimes perpetuate this notion, the loss is greater than the possible gain. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a preacher. Countless benefits have been afforded to society by good churches, good Christians, and good people doing good things to others. For every bad thing done in the long history of this religion, good things have equally surfaced. Such is the case with any institutions as old as the church.

However, I am continually encountering individuals who are tired. They’ve been to churches, tried out Bible studies and been to lunch with Christians and are still left searching for meaning, community and hope. Years of trial and error have produced nothing of substance in their lives. As friends of mine said recently, “We’ve sat and home and eaten pancakes every Sunday for the last four months, and couldn't be happier.”

My heart breaks when I hear those things. This beloved belief system based on the life of Jesus has given me so much. With it, I have found hope, freedom, friends, and meaning. I see countless individuals who are looking for the same things. But because they have been presented via confrontation, with arrogance, or out of pity, an entire generation is getting turned off and will no longer look for answers inside a church building or a Christian anything.

In an attempt to present a message of love and hope to today’s world, churches have dressed up, dressed down, jazzed up, and toned down their delivery and style to accommodate their perceived audiences. Yet, the same chiding, belittling and exclusive message lies hidden beneath. Conditions prevail and everything kind of stays the same.

It is a tough job, to meet people where they are, to love them how they are, and to accept them as they are. But, someone has to do it. A man from Nazareth showed this so long ago, and ever since, the church has tried its best to place agenda upon agenda upon this man’s beaten and scarred back. The tough job is to get back to the root of this man’s appeal, love and message. But, someone has to do it.

Below is an idea, from the mind of Lynnette about the kind of community, the kind of church, and the kind of reality that can make it possible to re-ignite the passion to search of those who have been tired for far too long. Enjoy.

Blueprint for Our Dream
We dream about being a part of a community that allows and encourages people to be most fully who they are—children who are deeply loved by God who are called to deeply love God, to deeply love each other, and to deeply love the people around them.

We dream about:
· being authentic (true and honest) with God, with others, and with ourselves; working together to create space where people can live in relationship with God and with one another
· creating "places of possibility"—sacred spaces and times that are infused with meaning and purpose; places in which people can live out the dreams of God in accordance with the desires of their hearts and their unique gifting and ability
· struggling with hard questions and difficult times in community; clinging to and communicating hope; allowing love to be the force that moves people toward healing and wholeness
· belonging to a community that is determined to follow God into mission, living in the way of Jesus and turning outside of itself to be a redemptive blessing in all the world
· ordering our lives according to the kingdom that Jesus described; struggling for justice and peace; crying out against oppression - mourning it, condemning it, and calling for change
· liberating the imagination - devaluing the currency of the empire and radically shifting images toward those more in line with the kingdom of God
· engaging the challenge and the beauty that is found in diversity
· integrating faith into every area of life—body, mind, soul, and spirit
· learning from the history of our faith and of our world, remembering the tragedies and the failures as well as the triumphs and the successes
· telling the story of God as expressed in the Bible and being a part of the story of God that continues today; honoring that which came before us, that which is now, and that which is to come; remembering that we are a part of a greater story and looking for ways to bless one another
· being connected to, dependent on, and serving the global Church
· forming dynamic (as opposed to static) structures and systems that do not get in the way of mission, but rather promote it
· creativity, innovation, vulnerability, and risk-taking; not being afraid to abandon some of the long-held patterns of predictability and make space where fresh life can spring forth; not always taking the roads that are safe, familiar, and predictable
· redefining the metrics of success; measuring not by numbers but by the depth of the stories that emerge from the community