Saturday, December 22, 2007

Something Needs to Change

Yesterday I got to see a dear friend of mine that I only see about once a year when she comes to visit her parents in Seattle. We have similar church backgrounds, but we both know that something is going to change drastically in the next year.
My friend is so fed up with church that she doesn't want to go anymore.
She's someone that knows and follows Jesus and has developed a lifestyle of being his disciple. She cares about the poor, she reaches out to the disenfranchised, she is passionate about developing community, she is preparing to move to Haiti to help their country develop better ways of farming.
But, she doesn't feel like her church life is relevant to her other life.
She feels like her church almost hinders her faith; rather than growing it up.
She doesn't want to go anymore.
How can this be?
Why have I heard 3 times this week that church isn't relevant to life?
Where have we gotten off track to the point that we think that church gets in the way of living out our faith?
I dream about church being a group of people that "does life together." They know what's happening in one another's lives and they care! They celebrate the victories and suffer along with those that are walking through the hard spots of life. They study the Bible and see that God is much bigger than they ever knew from Sunday School or Youth Group.
They dream together and understand what their true missional purpose can be. They begin to plan and give their money to do something of real significance in the world; whether it is next door or across the world.
I dream of a people that know and follow Jesus in real ways; the ways that he said are important: knowing God and loving people, and taking steps to be free: wholistically~free through a healthy body, a healthy emotional soul, and a spirit that is alive to God.
I dream of a people that isn't afraid to talk about what Jesus has done for them because they have tangible things to say: Jesus helped me to forgive my boss for firing me. Jesus helped me to forgive myself for the abortion I had. Jesus helped me get healed of migraines. Jesus helped me to dream again and to join a community of people that love me for "who I am" not who I appear to be. Jesus helped me to be known to know others, so that I am not isolated any longer.
What's your story?
Do you have tangible ways to point to what Jesus has done for you?
If not, then something really needs to change.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A good read I would recommend is Ed Silvoso's book, "Transformation, Change The Marketplace and You change the World."
Ed states, “In my estimation, the main reason we have such difficulty understanding that proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom will bring cities and nations to God is because we have embraced the misconception that such proclamation is to be done by clerics in religious settings to reluctant heathens – whereas in the examples in the Scriptures, good news is presented to people in the marketplace who readily embrace it because it meets deeply felt needs. If the heart of the city – the marketplace- is touched, the city is impacted."