So I know our culture, and even our church culture, tells us that church is only supposed to last an hour, maaaaybe an hour and a half if you've got really really important things to say. I'm not saying that all churches like this are bad and that you can't get anything out of them. But I happen to like going to our church in Auburn for two hours. Today was one of those mornings where I would have been perfectly content if it went for another thirty minutes. It was that good. It was that encouraging. It was that personal. Today was membership Sunday and Stephen and I joined Campus Church. They had a brief amount of time where they had their ministry team pray for all the new members. The guy who prayed for me encouraged me saying, the Lord wants to be your comforter. He wants to wrap you up in his arms and lead you through the unknowns of life. Don't be afraid or anxious in those times, where things are unknown, but trust Him to lead you through them. I don't think that this was just an encouraging word for me, but can be an encouraging word for anyone. We all go through times in our lives where we face the unknown and we are afraid. Afraid to step into something we've never done before. Afraid to trust anyone besides ourselves. The thing is, we have a loving God who wants to lead us through the unknown. He wants to make it known. Through his power. Through his faithfulness. Not through our own strength.
During worship, we sang many awesome and powerful songs, one of which was How He Loves Us. Such a good song. And as the band softly played the music to the song, one of the worship leaders started to speak to the entire congregation saying that she felt like the Lord wanted us to receive his love this morning. A lot of times we feel like we have to earn it, but we don't. The Lord freely gives it to us, and more importantly, He delights in giving it to us. Her words, not mine! I laughed because if you've read my previous post you know that I talked about how hard it is for us to accept God's grace sometimes because we feel like we have to earn it or work for it. I also wrote about the new name of the blog, which means His Delight is in Her. The Lord delights in us and he delights to show us his love!
So I wanted to share that with whoever reads this because I know God likes to do that for us. He puts something on our heart and then he affirms it through someone else or something else and then in that moment we know that our God loves us. That he took the time to show us that he knows us, he accepts us, and he's right here with us, along for the ride of our lives. God is good!
After church, a few of us went out to lunch. We talked for a couple hours about lots of things. About life, ministry, the Lord... We talked about our college ministry and what it takes to keep it alive and keep it growing. We also talked about what people our age are looking for. From God, from church, from Christianity and from Christians.
I have a few thoughts on why people my age aren't going to church. Many church leaders are trying to figure out how to get people in their 20's to come to church, and more importantly, how to keep them there. I worked as a youth director's assistant at a small Methodist church in Madison, Al this past summer. I remember being in one of the staff meetings and they were talking about their vision. They were examining different areas of their church and what their strengths and weaknesses were. Then they started talking about why there is a hole in the age group from about 18-30. They just aren't in the church. Then they turned to me, seeing as I fall into that age group and they asked me what I thought...
I think there are several reasons why people in my generation have stopped going to church. But I think that there are a few fundamental reasons that can easily be pinpointed. I also think there are certain characteristics of this age group that make us different than the generations older than us.
What do we want from church? Bottom line is this: we want genuineness. We don't want gimmicks and shallow versions of scripture. We don't want cliches or hypocrisy. We want something real. We want something deeper. We are at a point in our life where we are trying to identify our purpose in this world and we want to make a difference. We want to do something with our lives that is full of meaning. We do not want to settle, we want to grow. We want to be challenged. We want something bigger than ourselves. We do not want to simply "do religion". We want something more. If that's not an option, then some of us will simply walk away. Because we don't want to be a part of something that says it is something that it's not. We want genuineness.
You see, young people are in a constant season of discovery. We are in a state of flux, if you will. It's dynamic, not static. Young people want genuineness, and within that genuineness, we want something real to grab a hold of us and get our attention. Otherwise, we're not afraid to "buck the system". A system can be described as a structure or framework that is designed to help us with our understanding of an idea or an execution of a goal. Our ideas and goals are of course, intertwined. These systems are often put in place and then that becomes the "only way". The only way to do something, just because it's how it's been done in the past. But we must learn to utilize and set up a system of freedom, freedom within the structure. Freedom to adapt and to embrace creative and critical thinking. I think that older generations are more set in their ways. In a general sense, they have usually been doing whatever they've been doing for a long time and they like it that way. They don't like change, they are more static. I realize of course, that this does not apply to all older individuals. I am speaking, however, in a more general sense about generational differences. Young people are discovering, where as older people have already gone through this discovery process and are now in the "settled in" phase. If we are going to be set in our ways, let us at least be set in the right ways. Let's flip religion on its head, like Jesus did, and do more than religion. BE more than religion. Let's get into the Word of God and make it real to our lives. Let's BE the church instead of going to church. Let's practice what we preach. Let's love people instead of judge people. That's what we want. Something genuine.
Many of us have been hurt by the church and that's why we don't go back. We've been judged or we've seen others be judged. And here we thought that the church was supposed to be the one place that doesn't judge other people for their sins. Isn't the church supposed to be a place where we are all sinners? Not a place where there is an implicit caste system of sinners and "bigger sinners", and those who don't truly admit that they even are sinners. Church isn't just for the "good people", it's for the broken people, for the ones who know that they can't make it without the grace of their heavenly Father. It's for the people who need other believers in their lives to help them get through their struggles. Look at the people Jesus hang out with. They were poor. They were outcasts. They were sick. They were widows. They were orphans. They were sinners. We are all sinners. And yet Christ has redeemed us. There is redemption in Christ Jesus who desires to "hang out with you" and restore the broken places in your life.
This is what we want. My generation wants to read the Bible and then see the same things happening in the church. We will not settle for anything less. We will not settle for hypocrisy. No one is perfect. Not even the most Godly of Christians. So yes, we must realize this. Our generation desires righteously, but we also have responsibility. A responsibility to see that we, too, must show grace and forgiveness when we are hurt by the church.
I am about to start reading a book called You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church... And Rethinking Faith. I haven't started reading it yet so we'll see what it has to say. I'm sure I'll share at some point. But what I've shared is just a few thoughts that I've had before on this topic.
Lord, please show us what you originally designed "church" to be like. Whether we're young or old, let us approach church with fresh eyes, seeing what it is that you want us to see within the body of Christ. Help us to go deeper. To dive in and to cast vision to others so that they can dive into the deeper waters as well. Help us to use our gifts to impact the kingdom. Help us to be kingdom minded in all that we do. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment