Lately, I have been doing alot of thinking about church. Not my church, or your church, or any church in particular, but the church in general as a collective whole. We live in a post-modern world that holds in high-esteem values that are anti-biblical. People tend to shy away from a belief in absolute truth, believing instead that everything is relative. According to many the highest meaning you can achieve in life is to make yourself happy. Not too many are happy though. I believe whole-heartedly that even in a post-modern society, people are hungry to know truth. They are hungry to know God. People want to see love in action. My fear, however, is that maybe the way we do church isn’t necessarily reaching the people we want to reach.
I may get some people upset with me here, but I think that as society evolves, the church needs to evolve with it. Now, don’t get me wrong. The truth of the Gospel remains the same, It doesn’t change. But we may need to change up our strategy and our approach. I am lucky enough to have friends that challenge my beliefs. Yup, I said that. I’m lucky to have them. Why? Because they have made me take a long hard look at myself and my relationship with God and really consider why I believe what I believe. It has sharpened me and made me stronger. I am a firm believer that faith that is not tested is not true faith. Anywho, a few of these friends have expressed to me a sense that they could never fit in or be accepted in a church. They didn’t feel safe to share their real questions, doubts and fears. They felt like if they did, they would be judged. I have observed that oftentimes people that feel this way will remain in unhealthy situations, simply because they at least feel wanted. They feel a sense of belonging. It breaks my heart.
All these things, have made the wheels start turning in my head…how do we create a church environment that a prostitute could walk into and feel safe? How do we build the kind of church that a drug addicted homeless man could walk into and feel accepted?
I began studying the book of Acts. I wanted to see how the first Christians did church. I wanted to know what the essentials of church are and what is the extra stuff that we just added along the way. One thing is for sure. The first Christians didn’t go to church, they were the church. Period. There wasn’t a difference between Sunday morning and Monday, they never stopped being the church. So, as I set out on this five day journey to share my discoveries from the book of Acts that is going to be our concentration. What does it look like to be the church?
Tune in tomorrow, for day one: “Be the Church: Go!”
