Somewhere in between
Caught in the middle is not normally a place anyone wants to be. Especially a Christian. We think in terms of white and black, right and wrong, good and bad. And in most cases, that’s good. Morality IS a matter of absolutes. Right and wrong exist. But that is not the point of this post. Recently, there have been a plethora of articles discussing the high number of young Christians leaving the church, the causes behind it, and what we ought to do about it. Normally, I hate to chime in just because a specific topic is currently vogue, but in this case, I feel the need to say something.
In case you haven’t been following the recent developments, the current state of the Church of Jesus Christ is as follows: lately, and in mass quantities, young Christians are leaving their traditional, Evangelical churches, and youth coming to Christ are doing so outside of normal church life/not joining a fellowship. The question being raised: why? and what should we do about it? The popular answer to this question is that young people either feel alienated from the traditional crowd, or feel that they just do not fit into the structure of the traditional church. “I love Jesus, but just not organized religion” - this is the rally cry of the demographic in question. Another undercurrent is the feeling of having to keep up a facade in church - don’t ask questions, pretend life is just fine, don’t doubt, pretend, pretend, pretend - keep your mask in place.
I’ll admit, I feel for these people. I know what it is like to feel as though I have to wear a mask, and to feel the fear of asking questions, to reveal doubt inside. I agree that the church needs to be a safe place for people to question, a safe place to be real, to be transparent. And in this respect, I applaud the Christian bloggers and authors drawing attention to this. What I disagree with, or rather, am cautious about, is the largely reactionary way in which the current state of the affairs is being handled.
The general solution offered is that the Church needs to be less rigid, less “defined” if you will. That the church needs to reach out to those on the “fringe,” like Jesus did - welcoming the lost, broken, the “non-churchy” people. And up to this point, I am totally and completely on board. Yes, the Church needs to remember that Jesus embraced those that the “good church people” would never have accepted - eating with tax collectors and prostitutes, and welcoming fishermen into His inner circle. He patiently allowed those around Him to ask questions, and even though he called some out on their lack of faith, He never did so in a condemning manner. It is completely safe to run to Jesus with questions - He can handle it. In Isaiah, God even says, “Come and let us reason together.” Also, yes, the Church needs to let go of trying to fit everyone in the same mold.
However, in an attempt to make more people feel welcome in Church, we have reacted almost too far - we are in danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It is as if in making the Church “safe” once again from judgmental glances and dismissive attitudes, we now run the risk of dismissing the notion of “sin” once and for all. We want people to feel comfortable, so church has become a place to feel good and hang out. We don’t want people to feel judged, so we tell them they are welcome to come as they are and apparently, welcome to stay that way.
THIS is where I hop off the bandwagon. Because, while Jesus accepted the sinners without judging them, He NEVER invited them to continue in sin. Jesus accepts everyone just the way they are, but He loves them too much to leave them that way. (thank you Max Lucado, for pointing out this important distinction.) We need to love people wherever they are at in life, but we need to be willing to lovingly challenge sin as well. The difference is this: we need to carefully examine what Scripture calls out as sin, and what just happens to clash with our personal preferences. For example, if a young person comes to Christ, and likes to skateboard, that is not a “sin” they have to give up. Just because someone doesn’t wear “the right clothes” to church is not a grievance that needs to be addressed. If someone is living a lifestyle contrary to Scripture, then YES, that needs to be lovingly addressed. Coming to Christ can be done “as you are,” but giving one’s life to Christ is a decision that will completely and radically change a life.
In terms of the second issue, the Church also needs to be a safe place to question things. My mom used to tell me, “If you ever find yourself in a church where you can’t ask questions, get out; that’s a cult.” Beloved brothers and sisters, we need to listen to the questions of those having a crisis of faith, without freaking out and assuming that questions =committing heresy, or that falling apart = not enough faith. If we overreact to questions and devalue difficult circumstances, the message being sent is “you don’t fit in, but don’t ever let anyone know. If you are going to belong to Christ, check your brains at the door, wear your mask, and don’t ever let anyone see you fall apart.” If this is the message we’re sending, is it any wonder people leave the church in droves???
So I guess my point is this: the answer to making people feel welcome at church is neither to insist on continuing to do everything as we have been, but nor is it to swing completely to the other side. The answer lies somewhere in the middle. Perhaps we need to take a closer look at Jesus, and at Scripture. Jesus is described as one who is appointed to bring good news to the poor, sent to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed, to tell those who mourn that the time of the LORD's favor has come, and with it, the day of God's anger against their enemies,to give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair (Isaiah 61). He is close to those who mourn and compassionate to those who are falling apart. The only people Jesus attacked were those considered the “church leaders,” crushing people under extra-biblical expectations.
Beloved, we need to lead people to Church with the intention of leading them to Jesus, lovingly guiding them through sorrow, doubt, questions. We need to be a church that challenges people, yes, but we are exhorting them, not condemning, encouraging, not just pointing out failures.
In short, we are to help people conform to the image of Christ, not insist they conform to our image.
