I know that the church has the most relevant and most needed message to share: love.
I know that the church has bastardized that message and made it neat, tidy, vanilla, beige, suburban, and safe for consumption.
I know that many people in many churches have either never heard that message, or have obviously misunderstood.
I know that the church has taken a very dangerous, wild, untamed God and put Him into a box available for three easy payments of $19.95. And if you act now, we'll throw in this chrome-fish for your car along with some Jesus' mints. But wait, there's more! If you call within the next five minutes, we'll also include this free mp3 player pre-loaded with 50 popular Christian songs by your favorite Christian artists!
I know that the safest place to be is not in God's will.
I also know that we've lied to people for years and told them it is.
I know there are a lot of surprised people walking around with wounds because of this lie.
And I know that some of them have lost their faith in Jesus because of it.
I know that a group of lions is called a pride, a bunch of geese, a gaggle, a herd of rhinos is called a crash, and buzzards gathered together are called a committee.
I know that most committees should immediately disband.
I know that once disbanded, they should get on their knees and not get back up again until they've repented and heard from the Lord.
I know that if they hear from the Lord, their committees will become obsolete.
What if our buzzard committees disbanded and reformed as rhino crashes--groups of people with such single-minded focus they crash head-long into following Jesus?
What if?
I'll tell you what if, dear friend: astounding ministry would happen.
Miracles would be commonplace.
Love would abound.
Churches would overflow and have parking problems.
Can you imagine a church with a "standing room only" section?
Dare not to dream of such a thing.
Rather, dare to suggest a revolution.
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4 comments:
Wow, I admire your passion Shane, I don't share your beliefs, but in my observations of the Christian church lately, I think they've really lost the real idea of Christianity.
Keep up the good fight!
Christina wrote:
I read your blog...very good stuff again. I tried replying, but couldn't remember my password - I'm lame.
Anyway - 2 things about it:
1) I'm with ya on the whole love thing...wouldn't it be cool if we showed our love through all ways - including money? Imagine what difference the church could make in the lives of the oppressed if more than 2% of Christians actually tithed!!!!
2) What did you mean when you said that we are better when we are not in God's will (I think that's what you said)?
I love what you're doing there!
Christina,
Actually, I didn't say we were BETTER" if we are not in God's will...I said that the safest place to be is NOT in God's will.
In fact, it's quite the opposite. If you ARE in God's will, prepare to be fired upon. Jesus talked often about His disciples being persecuted for His name's sake (Matthew 5, for example). And in the Gospel of John, Jesus talks about the Disciples being hated, even more than their Teacher was hated.
So...if you ARE in God's will...it is NOT the SAFEST place to be...but it's the BEST.
Be WILD!
shane
I recently re-read God's Debris, by Scott Adams. Have you read this? I'd like to know if you liked it; I did, particularly the notions of us as debris and the curious bees. There's a chapter on "if people really had faith" and how it would be all-consuming and life guiding like your committees section, which connected your work to Adams.
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