At times I ask people, why they stopped attending church (if I know they are not attending). A common response I receive is “church is boring”. Whether they were kids bored to death or they were adults struggling to keep their eyes open in the pews it didn’t matter. They were bored at church and didn’t have a desire to go back. Is this how God intended His Church to be described?
Recently, I read Letters To The Church by Francis Chan. If I’m completely honest with you, I didn’t want to read it at first. I was reluctant to take time out of my day to read this book a good friend was wanting to read together.
By the end of the first page, I was hooked and couldn’t put the book down.
Throughout Letters To The Church Francis writes on how the Churches drifted away from what the Bible instructs us on how the Church should function. Honestly, it opened my mind to a different way of Church. An ancient way. A way that so many churches have lost over the centuries.
Chapters 7 and 8 left me mind blown.
Chapter 7 speaks on persecution. In the American church today we do EVERYTHING in our power to escape and avoid persecution.
We run from pain or even the risk of pain.
We avoid situations that could end with us in the “losing” position. We have forgotten, or maybe not, maybe we chosen to ignore the story of Job. Maybe we conveniently skip over verses like 2 Corinthians 1:3-5.
Where Pauls reminds us that the Holy Spirit is our Comforter.
In order for us to need a comforter we must have something that is causing us discomfort.
God did not promise an easy life, His word actually tells us that we will face opposition.
We will face persecution.
I’m not saying that we should search out persecution and neither was Francis. We are simply pointing out that its time for the Church to stop playing it safe all the time.
Running from persecution.
Francis pointed out that when the Church was persecuted MORE intensely, the Church grew at a FASTER rate.
I believe this is because people saw their friends and family members literally dying for what they believed. They were sacrificing everything for Christ.
This sacrifice moved people to action.
Action that spread the Gospel at an extreme rate. The early Church didn’t play it safe. They knew persecution was inevitable.
Are we willing to face persecution in order to spread the Gospel?
Chapter 8 is about unleashing the Church.
Francis opens the chapter explaining the plot of the movie Madagascar. His point in doing so is to help us realize that the Church has a “zoo” mentality instead of the natural God given wild instincts it should have.
In other words, we play it safe.
You see its safe to go visit wild animals at the zoo, there are enclosures that keep the “dangerous” animals away from the visitors. Much like churches across the United States.
We have non-offensive messages, despite how clear the Bible is on certain topics.
We have drastic differences of opinion on music styles, preaching styles, ministries and countless others things that detract from what the Church was intended to be.
We go on safe missions trips. We stay out of the “rough part of town.”
The Church in America tends to play it safe.
Francis argues this could be a reason why we don’t see the Church growing like we do in other nations, where it is not safe to openly share the Gospel. His statement makes sense, its how the gospel was spread in the beginning.
Money grows this way as well, you can stick your money in a very safe savings account at a bank and get little return on investment. Or you can put your money in slightly riskier investments but the payoff will be greater. The riskier the investment the better the pay off could be potentially.
Now not all risky investments pay off, this is also true with the church. I do not believe we should go looking for crazy risky situations as the Church.
I do believe if God is calling us to make a move that appears risky, even when others are showing us the facts that it is extremely risky, we must be willing to take that risk.
We must stop playing it safe as the Church.
If we truly want the gospel to spread risk must be involved.
How do we stop playing it safe as the church?
I do not believe there is a simple fix for this problem.
Churches have grown comfortable, too comfortable. We believe we are safe, but this safety is an illusion.
It’s not real Christianity.
We naively believe we are in control of the situation we are currently facing. We ignorantly believe it is all up to us.
Personally, I fall short in this area. I get caught up in striving to make a project as great as I can and forget to leave room for God to work.
I forget I am not ultimately in control.
My actions matter and do have consequences. What I do can affect the outcome of the situation but The Creator of the universe can and will do as He pleases.
I still haven’t answered my question though, “How can we stop playing it safe as the church?”.
We need to become “FearLESS.”
We read all throughout scripture of amazing people who chose to follow God despite of their fear. They decided to obey God instead of playing it safe.
Stop and think about it, God had David a young man face giant in a one on one battle, Esther had to approach the king without being summoned which could mean death if the king wasn’t in a good mood, and Jesus hung on the cross taking on death and hell.
Go read for yourself they faced fear and despite knowing the consequences were grave they decided Gods’ will was much better than their own.
They didn’t play it safe.
This is just three examples from scripture but I could list many more from front to back of the Bible.
God uses people willing to be fearless.
This doesn’t mean that they don’t feel fear.
It simply means they face their fear head on being fully aware of the dangers. Recently, being fearless has not been the churches strength. Which is ironic because as we just discussed the church teaches and promotes the Bible that is full of fearless people and the amazing things they accomplished.
All in all the simple, yet not really so simple, way the church can stop playing it safe is to practice what we preach.
Literally, we can truly put action to our words.
We say we believe in a powerful God but are we willing to risk anything at all for His glory?
Are we as the church willing to put away are ideas of how church should be and listen to God’s instructions?
That is the main point Francis is trying to establish in Letters to the Church. We have drifted away from God’s idea of Church and it is time for us to return. Just as Francis said in his book, I am not saying that the church itself is horribly wrong.
I believe we have slightly drifted off course. It is now time for a correction to get us back on the correct course.
It’s time to refill the Church with truly passionate believers, willing and ready to make a difference in the lives of the people around them.
P.s. I highly recommend you go and read Letters to the Church.