For years churches have wanted to be relevant, and were concerned they weren’t. And they should be concerned. But churches can’t be relevant. People that make up churches can.
So tell me…when someone comes to you who is wrecked by alcoholism, do you want to just go get drunk? When someone comes into your life who self-inflicts, do you want to cut yourself? Or who is suicidal—do you wonder what it would be like to end it all? Do you care that much? Do you pity these people, or are you actually sympathetic, empathetic, com-passionate? Do you actually feel what they feel? When a wife has been left for the other woman do you feel betrayed? Or feel the shame crawling over your skin if your friend is the one having the affair? When someone comes into your community who has been burned by Christians, ministers, church staff, do they need to get over it and decide to trust again, or are you going to enter a season of disillusionment?
The church is not an institution. It’s us. If we’re not relevant, the church is not relevant.
No comments:
Post a Comment