repost from an earlier blog

i want to repost a blog that i originally wrote on 11.12.05:

[re]discovering the church

Words can be really interesting and dynamic. Words shape… influence… uplift… teardown …define… misconstrue… unite… divide… inform… misinform… clarify… confuse.

Words can even change over time as contexts, cultural climates, actions, and people change. The origin of a word may be lost over generations and may even take on newer meanings as it is loosely or broadly applied.

Words can become loaded…taking on a variety of attributes or characteristics that were not originally intended…to its’ detriment.

Enter the word: Christian

Within the cultural context in which we live…the word “Christian” has come to be maligned…hated…repudiated and representative of something that was not originally intended. In the post-modern culture in which we live…”Christian” is synonymous with Right Wing…Republican…pro-war…judgmental…activist. These redefinitions are far from the original intended usage…which was simply a reference to a person aspiring to be like Jesus Christ. No matter the original intention…the reality is that the word “Christian” is not what it used to be…and I am not sure that I want to be defined that way.

I don’t think this is a matter of semantics. Jesus was not an activist (as we define it today). Jesus did not judge…He loved. Jesus did not fight back when struck…He turned His cheek. Jesus did not picket and scream when John the Baptist was taken as a prisoner (even though it was not just)…He told Johns’ disciples to go back to the prison and tell John that the “blind see…the lame walk…the lepers are cured…the deaf hear…the dead are raised to life…and the Good News is being preached to the poor.” He was too busy loving people…meeting peoples’ needs…telling them about something greater…caring for their eternal needs.

I think something unfortunate has and is happening. Many people who are Christians, or who aspire to Christianity, feel as if they ought or have to be activists…Republicans…etc…as if not being those things questions your authenticity as a Christian. As a result…rather than extending outward to others and meeting people where they are at…loving them…we build up walls…defending stances and issues rather than caring and loving. I don’t want to be a “Christian,” as much as I want to be a follower of Jesus. Reaching out and loving people…caring for people…breaking down walls…rather than building them…asking people to join me on this journey…rather than condemning them to hell.

You cannot transform culture and change lives by standing on soap boxes…wearing billboards and shouting at people…or by hiding behind walls with your eyes closed and your fingers in your ears. Followers of Jesus have to come out from behind the walls…and begin the process of rediscovering who and what the church is…exactly. We have to come to terms with a culture that is turned off by dogmas and institutions…but engaged by people who have a spirituality that is alive…a spirituality that transforms perspectives and lifestyles…that asks questions and seeks answers…that offers life to the fullest…and hope for eternity.The church of the future (which is now…the future is now) is not confined, or defined, by a building… traditions… rituals… dogmas… or ideologies. But a group of people who define themselves as followers of Jesus…and emulate Jesus in teaching and action…within a culturally relevant context…a context that is understood by the culture. It is a group of people who believe that 21st century ministry is very much like 1st century ministry. It is decentralized…and less about taking people to a building to be ministered to…or asking a disengaged generation, who has “been there and done that,” or who doesn’t even care what that is, to come to you…but empowering individuals to go to the people…changing the world from the bottom-up…not judging…condemning…and distancing…but engaging…caring…and loving.