OK. This is a tough one. I have loved and worked in my church for many years. But I've become disillusioned. Not by its message - I still believe it. Not by my God - he's still the most wonderful thing that's ever happened to me! But by our direction.
For years I've been trying to teach the beautiful God that I know. But even amongst church goers, I don't think the real him is deeply known. And this leads to a problem. The church then becomes more of a club of people, content to be together and focus on nurturing the needs within. Our focus becomes selfish. We seek to make what we do there, what meets 'our' needs. And while it is a good thing to care for our family, that should not be our main focus!
We were given a mission - to give people a chance to find abundant life! To share that life with people who are struggling! Every decision we make in what we do as a church should be based on that focus. Not on what suits us best! We already have that life! And I don't think that's what we've been doing. And I'm not sure what to do about it. As I said, the church is pretty comfortable with how it's been doing 'church'. It doesn't really want to change. Afterall "it's always been done that way", so it must be right, right??? No! We need to rethink everything! And try and figure out what's going to work in this day and age to reach those people Jesus died for.
It feels right now as if the church is a great old ship, stuck in its berth. And everyone on board is having a pretty good time! But there are a few who have noticed we're not going anywhere. And they're on the dock, trying to turn that ship so it heads out on the journey it was meant for. But that ship really does not want to move. It needs so many more to join the task of turning that great ship!!
I'm praying, with others, that God inspires us with what is needed to turn that ship. And that many more see the need to get that ship moving into rescue as it was intended.
I heard a comment made as an introduction to the song Reckless Love recently, and it hit me deeply. "Jesus will always leave the 99 to go after the 1"! What are we doing???
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