When We Gonna Stop Doing What We’re Doing … and Do Better
A few days ago, I came across an advertisement for a new “church” in the Chattanooga area that I found to be a great example of the disappointment that I have for the way “church” is communicated in our society today. It is the Net Church that will soon be gathering at The Rave movie theater in Chattanooga. Now this is not the only church that has succumbed to this type of marketing; and I will readily admit that there are plenty of “traditional” or “old school” churches who need some reprimand too. This is not to “slam” church in any way … but my heart simply breaks at the lengths “we” are going to … to “market God” in today’s society. Frankly, I’m sick of it. Instead of using the media for a positive tool to share the love and hope of Jesus with a lost and dying world, we are spending too much time and money and effort … competing with each other.
I have the notion that I should start a web site titled, “IMissChurch.com” because I fear (I really do fear) that the church has lost her focus, especially when we are trying to be anybody’s dog that will hunt. Regarding the message from the “Ifyouhatechurch.com” site, I posed this question … Is this evangelistic?
I guess it reaches who they are trying to reach. “People who hate church.” I pray that TRUTH will be shared, but like so many other emergent and program-based churches, I have a feeling that TRUTH is “relative” and not absolute. After posing my question, I received this “great” and philosophical response from Garnett Doty, a “Right of Way Specialist” and good guy with common sense. I invite you to read his perspective and of course, offer your own comments.
From Garnett Doty …
What we have here is a failure, not only to communicate, but a failure to understand what God has said over and over. Hate the sin and love the sinner. Why are the two “hot button issues” that fire the “church people” up the most, abortion and homosexuality, worse than cheating on your taxes, divorcing your wife for another, ignoring the poor (in Spirit and finances) among you, and yes, even the unmentioned sin of gluttony. (Did I spell that right?)
I am not saying that we shouldn’t oppose the “hot button issues”. But, we should have sound Biblical principles and know how to present them in a loving and kind way. We must oppose sin, but not in such a way that we make bitter enemies of the sinner while doing so. One of the particular things that stood out in the last election was how if you were for one particular candidate, you were made out to be some kind of hell-bent sinner. If you were a real Christian, you couldn’t support someone who thought that although you weren’t gay yourself, you couldn’t see the human-ness in someone that was.
If the average Bradley Countian knew how many gay people they come in contact with on a daily basis, they would faint. How many people do you know who have taken in a young lady, supported her spiritually and financially, so that she would have the child instead of aborting it? How many people do you know who gripe constantly about the welfare situation, but won’t contribute or help in any way to organizations who try to get people off welfare? How many people do you know that even knows what Nancy’s House is and is ready to help?
As I get older, my patience wears thin with these folks who want to tell everyone how to live. Diversity is a good thing. Trying to understand how people who are not like you think, so that you can show them God’s love, is not a bad thing. I know that if you wallow with the hogs, you will get hog stuff on you, but my faith in God and His ways is strong enough to resist what is not right.
I really think that I can live in San Francisco’s gay district, and not become gay. Where in the Bible does it say that a gay person can’t be saved? Do we abandon these people because we find their sex life abhorrent?
These guys [www.ifyouhatechurch.com] are trying to reach a people who don’t want to be reached. That is admirable and Godly. I am afraid that they are setting a poor example, though.
What is the Church? It is people. Why are these people not in church already? Most of the time it is because of something that someone who claims to be a Christian have said or done that wronged them, and they think that if that is Christianity, they don’t want any part of it. Most of them were raised in church and were hurt or offended in such a way that they don’t want any part of it either.
How do we reach these people? We don’t do it by saying “for people who hate church”. We go into the community and love, help, witness and pray, until God sends the harvest. I hope that these fellows have a successful effort, but I also hope that they will allow God to lead.
A lot of the persecution of the Church is the fault of the Church its self. The Falwell, Robertsons and Kennedys, et al, brought a major portion of this hatred and persecution by their intolerance and hatred of anyone not like themselves. Of course, by doing so, they built large empires.
Do you remember Falwell’s tape of the Gay Inaugural Ball at Clinton’s first inauguration? For $75, you could get the actual taped footage of the gay’s dancing and celebrating Clintons rise to the Presidency.
Of course, no one mentioned that Liberty University had 75 million dollars worth of bonds that were due and that Liberty was about to go bankrupt. Robertson begged for money on the 700 Club for years, and then sold it to Rupert Murdoch and Fox for 1.6 Billion. Did you get your share of that through the mail? Has Billy Graham been censored, hated, put in the headlines in a derogatory way for something he has said? No, because Billy Graham has stayed true to his calling and preached the simple truth. God loves you, sent His Son to die for you … won’t you say yes to His love?
I think if the Church will stay true to God’s calling, what persecution that comes will be dealt with in God’s timeframe and will.
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