The church I'm
hanging out with is doing a series where we get to think about what our "frontline"
is? That is where we might already be "missionaries"? Or, who we can tell the gospel too? To
be honest I'm always nervous about these sorts of things as they can often
water down Xy to some kind of religious pyramid selling scheme. Where sermons
become rallying cries for sales teams.
None the less, I have a faith that has transformed my life for the better and one that I believe is worth sharing with the people I know and love. I
reflected about the people I connect with on a regular basis in particular my
closest friends. Serendipitously two of them (both not Xn) and I had a long conversation
about Xy. During the conversation it became brutally obvious that they will
never come to church. (This is probably also true of many of the other people I
know).
Thinking about this I remembered an
old friend becoming Xn, at the time she only knew me and one other Xn person. She started going to church and about four weeks later chucked church in
and later after moving to a different part of the state everything else kind of faded away. Jesus was great but she couldn't
square Jesus with the way church folk did life and the values they lived. Church was and still is the only way I knew
to give some sort of form to Xn discipleship.
I cannot help but
feel that Church has become an albatross to mission. Unless I abandon church and
work out some other way of being Xn, some way of living and growing as a person
of faith rooted in the long history of the faith that I can then hand on to others, then my friends and many others I
know will never consider becoming Xn.
To be honest right now I have no idea why I even go to
church. I get nothing out of it and I give nothing to
it.
6 comments:
I'm with you brother. And yet I do, for reasons I can't easily defend. It's less about church and more about making these legs get me to a place other than my own cynicism. I don't expect much, but occasionally surprised.
If it helps, forget about missions. Forget about evangelism. I'm now convinced these are hubris and fear on the churches part.
Paul
Chris, I hear you writing out of the nadir in your feelings about church. I can't think of anything which would change the way you feel, but I'm sure you're at least wrong to say you give nothing to it. What about the people you talk to and encourage each week? In a disconnected world, it's almost radical - sadly - to turn up at the same place each week and worship. It might not be much, but it's a little light in the darkness. I know some of your thoughts on typical church worship, but does it mean something for you to praise God with others? And what about the Lord's Supper?
Shalom, Nathan.
This is a comment that fell off the Blog for some reason that I'm reposting.
I'm with you brother. And yet I do, for reasons I can't easily defend. It's less about church and more about making these legs get me to a place other than my own cynicism. I don't expect much, but occasionally surprised.
If it helps, forget about missions. Forget about evangelism. I'm now convinced these are hubris and fear on the churches part.
Paul
I should clear up that I think I should stop going to church is different from I have decided to stop going to church...
Nathan, On my better days that's what keeps me going. On other days I feel like I rarely get to talk to or encourage people at church. It's often the place where I see people and think "I should catch up with them and talk to them at some time"
Does it mean something to praise God with others... I could write a paragraph or two on why it should but it doesn't. The Lord's Supper is similar, that probably meant more when I was working with the Anglican church and that was really the centre of the service rather than something that sometimes happens sometimes doesn't.
Paul, thanks for your comment sorry it got lost. I think my life has gone in waves too much church and I get cynical, then not enough church and I get cynical. I still remember your sermon about the great commission. One of the few times I almost involuntarily stood up and yelled "Preach it brother! Hallelujah". I guess all I want to do is make the pathway that people can walk to connect themselves with this faith as obstacle free as possible.
Good morning Chris,
Firstly let me say that I understand that we all have our own journey in our walk with Christ. I am speaking as a Christian that loves her church and finds it very relevant and encouraging, I can honestly say that I get something from it each and every week. The main reason that I do is that I go there expecting God to show up and with my heart and spirit open to being ministered to.
As you know I come from a non Christian background and was living a life very differently to what I live now, void of Christ. It was my church friends that were praying for me to come to church. God used them and the Church (in a huge way) to connect me to him and ultimately lead to my Salvation. I went to the Church for a whole year and a half before I decided to lay down my old life and follow Christ. Without the Church I most definitely would not be where I am today, I owe them everything. The Church most definitely has its place in connecting people to Christ and keeping them connected, growing them and nurturing them. The obstacles that you talk of, they're fantastic! Yes they are hard, but they help us press in to God and basically get over ourselves. There are a lot of people and issues in my Church that normally I would just not put up with but God calls me to love them anywa. Christ is perfect, people and the church are not but he loves them anyway and I try to grit my teeth and do the same, I am better for it. I hope you can find a church to love Chris, I find it enriching and I so wish the same for you.
Love Aleisha vB
Thanks Aleisha
Post a Comment