The One Place you must not abandon

Through the eyes of the new convert

So, at Noon yesterday I walked into a ‘temple’ that was very strange to me. It had its own vibe, smells, sounds, and rituals. I went to the gym! When I entered, I felt myself begin to perspire. “Good,” you say. No, this was nervous sweat not the result of any physical exertion. I was acutely self-consciousness. Would I do or say something totally ridiculous? Would some muscle-bound kid smirk at me behind my back? What does one say, if anything, while pushing weights?  I hate to admit it, but this very uncertainty was a primary reason I avoided the gym for so long.

Have you considered that perhaps a person who walks into into our church for the first time might feel some of the same kind of discomfort that I just described?  Not so very long ago, almost everyone knew something about ‘going to church.’  Sunday morning worship, at least on Christian holidays, was the normal thing to do. Not in 2012!  For Americans under the age of 34,  one third seriously question the existence of God as a personal Being! An even higher percentage is deeply skeptical about the value of ‘organized religion,’ and particularly Christian church.  Overall, only 1 in 5 Americans attend church regularly. About half of adult Americans do not attend any kind of organized religious activity ever. For these people, a church building is probably a foreboding place, a mysterious place.

What does this mean?  Well, a lot of things, but two that I want us to be thinking about.

1. We’re kidding ourselves if we think that those who are spiritually hungry are just going to walk through the front doors of our church buildings all by themselves!  If Americans do not think of our local churches offer an experience of God they can understand, why would they come? Is it that they have nothing else to do? Are there no alternatives to which they turn to find spiritual meaning?  I have not written off the Church.  God calls people together and makes His Presence known in our gatherings, but too often we keep the Light locked behind the door.

2. A personal, warm invitation is required if we hope to introduce a friend to Christ and His Church! My nerves about the gym would have been tremendously relieved if just one person had said, “I’ll meet you there when you go for a couple of weeks.”  (I didn’t ask anybody to do that)  That person could have explained what to wear, where to go, the traditions and expectations for me.  We, individually and collectively, must recover our commitment to Jesus’ imperative to ‘go and tell!’

Why is this important? Can’t people just come to Christ on their own, or by watching media?  If we attempt to argue that one can be a vital Christian without a connection to a church we must ignore much of the New Testament. Being ‘in the church,’ is a baseline expectation for followers of Jesus.  Why?  Because, the power  of the Holy Spirit is amplified when we come together to share His gifts and Presence. Something happens there that simply cannot happen when we are going it alone. People like to point out that going to church does not make a person a Christian. True enough.  Yet, consider this wisdom. “Listen to the Church,” Henri Nouwen writes in Show Me the Way (Crossroad). “I know that isn’t a popular bit of advice at a time and in a country where the church is frequently seen more as an ‘obstacle’ in the way rather than as the ‘way’ to Jesus. Nevertheless, I’m profoundly convinced that the greatest spiritual danger for our times is the separation of Jesus from the Church. The Church is the body of the Lord. Without Jesus, there can be no Church; and without the Church, we cannot stay united with Jesus. I’ve yet to meet anyone who has come closer to Jesus by forsaking the Church. To listen to the Church is to listen to the Lord of the Church.”

Christians who are doing what our Savior demands of us, “going into all the world to preach the Gospel,” and living as those who are the proof of the Truth, will first lead people to know who Jesus is and what He has done for us in His birth, death, and resurrection. Then, they will take those new converts with them to church! 

Note what the Word teaches. "Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Ephesians 3:8-11, NIV)   God’s plan is that all the wonder of salvation through Christ, the transformation of a broken, sinful world, would be demonstrated in the Church and that even angels would be impressed!  The Message says it like this:  “Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!”

If you're ‘in church,’  I pray you are a participant, not simply a consumer.
If you’re not ‘in church,’ I encourage you to find one where Christ is loved, where the Spirit is welcomed, and where you can grow deeper in the things of God –  ultimately for His glory.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us,
to him be glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21, NIV)