Let’s be real for a moment.
If you’re a Christian, the world sometimes seems like it’s getting darker. The culture is becoming more and more godless. Today’s young adults are less and less interested in attending church. Many local churches are dead or dying, and many of those still around are consumed with arguments over what kind of music to play or what should or should not be present on the stage during the worship service, rather than reaching the lost.
This is exciting stuff.
You read that right. This is exciting. Why?
Because the Church (capital “c”) is God’s plan for reaching the world. Regardless of the current state of affairs, the Church is going to emerge triumphant. That’s a fact. If the times we’re living in are making today’s local church bodies less and less relevant in reaching the lost, that simply means that the Church we see today is not the version that’s going to be most effective in performing the mission. It means we’re in a time of transition to something new.
So what does that future version of the Church look like? I can’t tell you.
It’s not that I know and I’m withholding the information from you; I can’t tell you because I don’t yet know the manner in which you’re going to be a part of helping the church evolve. In other words, it’s exciting because the Church is going to be effective in new ways because you, as a Christ-follower and part of the Church, are going to change how the Church approaches the problem of delivering the Gospel to people who haven’t heard it before.
Don’t look at the current state of affairs and see despair; look at it and see that opportunities abound! At its core, Christianity is about two things: loving God and loving people (after all, only a handful of the 10 Commandments pertain to our relationship with God; the vast majority of them deal with our relationship with each other). In what way(s) are you able to develop a relationship with someone for the purpose of glorifying God?
Can’t think of anything? Start out with this: make friends with at least one person in every decade of life. Regardless of what decade of life you’re currently in, imagine the perspective you can gain by interacting with someone who has the black-and-white outlook of a child, the idealism of a teenager, the enthusiasm of a twenty-something, the ambition of someone in their thirties, the experience of a mid-lifer, the expertise of someone in their fifties, the hindsight of a sixty-something, the clarity of what’s important in life of someone in their seventies, and the wisdom and life experience of everyone else. Whether or not all those people are Christians, you’re going to learn something, and they might too.
The Church is changing, and that’s not a bad thing. If you see a spot where the Church should be doing something but isn’t, you may have just found your calling. The entire purpose of this blog is to come alongside you, put a hand on your shoulder, tell you that God is capable of doing amazing things through broken and imperfect people, and encourage and exhort you to use the resources and spiritual gifts God’s provided…all for the purpose of reaching the lost and glorifying God. You’re not only capable of helping the Church meet the world’s current needs, you were designed to.
The exciting part is that even though (and perhaps because) the Church will evolve, it’s going to reach people in ways it hasn’t before. So by all means, if you’ve been prompted to or are toying with the idea of doing something unconventional, yet purposeful…please…start pursuing that course and see where it goes.
I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. –Matthew 16:18b.
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. –Ephesians 3:20-21