The Church In Crisis

Here's a follow-up to some of the thoughts from my blog last week. I have been reading the Kinnaman and Lyons text, 'Un-Christian', again. The re-read has been a great thought-provoker.

Sometimes I think that we are inundated with so much information. What are we going to be held accountable for? There is no way I could keep up with half of the messages, conversations, and resources I receive on a weekly basis. We are saturated with input and data.

Anyway, that aside, after reading 'Un-Christian', a quote from the book jumped off the page.

“...the vast majority of outsiders have been to Christian churches and have heard the message of Christ...What they react negatively to is our 'swagger.' We (Christians) have become famous for what we oppose, rather than who we are for."

-Kinnaman, p. 26

We must be committed to being people of the principle. But, how we communicate those treatise to an un-believing world is important. Am I judgmental, critical, harsh, or even too merciful, un-challenging, and slight in my approach to truth. It takes a balance of truth and grace to portray the clearest example of Christ to our world. Calling all to a repentance of their sin, while at the same time, loving them in their situation.

Billy Graham has been quoted as saying, "Have you seen God? I've never seen Him. Have you seen the wind? I've never seen the wind, but, I have seen the effects of the wind. There's a mystery to it."

Sometimes I think that if people could just see God and know that He is real, it would be easier for them to believe the church. It's almost as if we have to convince them of our personal life before we convince them of our message. That is too much pressure. We need a supernatural move of the Spirit to infuse the church with the Spirit of Jesus. that we would be as excited about grace as we are truth. Sure, we must know what we believe and we must stand for something, but, we must also do good contextualization with the people we live amongst.