I can’t hate the Church and be an authentic follower of Jesus, they are mutually exclusive. Jesus so loved the Church that He was prepared to die for her, to call her His body, and against all odds build her to represent Him and His kingdom on earth. Therefore, I choose to radically love the Church, not a building, a meeting, or an institution, but God’s people. I choose to love His called out, sent people, the people to which I belong. Yes, I see we are flawed, broken and often resistant to being all that Jesus envisioned we could be. Yet, Jesus remains our leader, the head of the ramshackle delegation He commissioned, equipped, and sent to reach the lost world with His message of love, grace, and hope. I often wonder why, but Jesus doesn’t give up on His people and therefore, neither shall I. After all, we are still His plan A! The people since the day of Pentecost He has chosen to fill with His Spirit again and again. Empowering each new generation despite their frailty and imperfections to be a light, a bold witness to Jesus in their home, community, nation, and world.
However, I must be honest, when I think about the Church, I could despair. My love for God’s people is not a ‘lovey, dovey’ emotion, it is often an act of the will. A disciplined decision to which I daily choose to be faithful. I have experienced the hurt, pain and damage His people can so easily inflict upon each other. To my horror, I recognise I am also guilty, but I refuse to despair because Jesus has not finished with us yet. He is still washing His Bride with His Word, removing our stains, wrinkles, and blemishes. As we surrender more and more to Him, His glory will fill the earth as His people radiate the beauty of Jesus wherever they go.
The unprecedented challenges we have all experienced over the last few years has led to what I believe is a healthy discussion about the sustainability and effectiveness of the Church. I know these discussions can get heated, especially if we don’t distinguish between Church practice and Church people. In my opinion, if our measure of Church effectiveness is against the Great Commission (Matthew 28-18-20), then I would suggest both current Church practice and Church people must change. If our measure of fruitfulness is against the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23), then most of the western Church falls short of the expected 30, 60, even 100-fold increase from the seed that was sown and most Church people could be accused of being distracted by ‘the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth’ (Matthew 13:22) It is therefore not only appropriate but essential we evaluate, discuss and dare to imagine a more effective Church for the 21st Century.
Currently it is the trend to deconstruct everything from a cheesecake to a Shakespeare play, but many are hesitant to deconstruct the Church. But if deconstruction breaks something down to rediscover its essential components, then I believe a measure of deconstruction could help assess the effectiveness of the Church today. It is an opportunity for our generation to not just inherit the Church they have been handed by the previous generation, but to rediscover the beauty and purpose of each component of the Church Jesus loved and gave His life for. We need the courage to allow each generation to question and ask why we do what we do. On a surface level they may be tempted to throw some elements out, but if we can encourage them to dig deep, to really examine each component the potential is that they will rediscover what Jesus intended and revive their passion for the Church Jesus intended and is continuing to build through their generation.
I do not fear deconstruction because I am convinced that as we deconstruct, we will find Jesus. If we don’t, we really are in more trouble than I thought!! As we deconstruct and question the practice of the Church, we will soon discover Jesus the head, foundation, and cornerstone of the Church only He can hold together. But let’s be honest, there is a problem but perhaps it’s not rooted in Church practice as much as found in the hearts of Church people? As we see in every part of God’s creation when fallen people get involved, the original blueprint gets distorted. All the essential components remain but human nature is to prioritise the things that we enjoy and find easy above the things that are uncomfortable and take perseverance. We want our way not His Way, we want to live not die!! It demonstrates the continual tension between imperfect people trying to follow a perfect God, we always fall short. I wonder if the heart of the problem is in our hearts, the hearts of the people. Is it time for a Church remix or a heart remix?
As a musician, I recognise a skilful sound engineer can make or break a band with the way they mix each voice and instrument. I think it’s time for a Church remix, listening and evaluating each component, raising the level on some and decreasing others. As each generation is accompanied by a fresh sound, the Church needs a remix to produce a more effective and fruitful Church for this generation. But if Church practice is to be successfully remixed, first we need a heart remix. We must each return to our first love, the builder of the Church. We must surrender again to realign our priorities with His priorities. We must re-engage with the heart of God to seek and save the lost, prioritise the Great Commission again. We must overcome our tendency to prioritise the comfortable above the uncomfortable, to persevere through fear, hardship, and persecution to join God once again on His mission. It’s time to fall in love again with the Church Jesus is building and recognise it may be very different to the Church we have been building!!
"Live to Serve" 