OPINION:
As a pastor’s kid and a pastor myself for more than 20 years, I like my Friday nights watching Netflix and quiet mornings writing at Starbucks. There are some Sunday mornings I would rather stay in bed, but once I’m there and greeted with hugs and sweet encouragement from the family of God, I am always so glad I decided to show up. So often we think our church needs us when in reality we need the church, yes, even you.
Over the last 15 years the church has gone through a seismic shift that has rocked the body of Christ to her very core and we are now left to sift through the rubble of church hurt, anger, offense, frustration, and fear. Barna reports, “More than 4,000 churches closed in America in 2020. Over that same time, over 20,000 pastors left the ministry and 50% of current pastors say they would leave the ministry if they had another way of making a living.”
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The statistics also include congregants and those who call themselves Christ followers stating, “Monthly, committed churchgoers are now about half as common as they were two decades ago, the share of practicing Christians has nearly dropped in half since 2000.”
Community is a foundational piece to the church that includes the good and the bad, the dawn and the midnight hour, the peaceful ocean and raging seas, life, and death. Without authentic community, we’re just religious robots coming in and checking boxes and then alone the rest of the week without friendship, encouragement, and discipleship.
This world is lonely, desperate to be part of something and have a cause, what we term a purpose. You and I are no different; just because we’re Christians doesn’t mean we don’t need help or friendship. And if we don’t need anyone now, one day we will when we get the scary test result, lose a spouse or a child, move to a new city, or need a shoulder to cry on. Yes, we have Jesus, but God created His children to be part of His family, and we can’t do that running from spiritual high to spiritual high. We find true families in spiritual prisons singing through the night believing for breakthrough.
Whomever we as the church fail to care for, the world will receive with open arms.
There are counterfeit communities all around us who will promise solidarity but leave us in solitude. When the deconstruction movement began to sweep through social media platforms, there were hundreds of accounts dedicated to walking with people through the process. Though some offered healthy dialogue and conversation, many lacked a solid foundation to provide any real help to those looking for answers. They promised healing only to lick wounds with their saltiness. They offered sweet revenge, but it was a mere cup of bitterness.
One example of this counterfeit community came from a group of individuals who were raised in the church, hurt by the church, and spent their days doing their best to destroy the church. I would read their posts and feel my cheeks flush with anger as they mocked God and Christians and used profanity and vulgar memes to gain followers. They promised those joining their many different platforms a place to feel seen, heard, and validated in their pain but offered no solution of healing.
Their entire community depended on people remaining bitter to grow.
I was amazed at how quickly this particular account grew seemingly overnight but just as quickly as it rose, it fell with an anti-climactic thud not long after. Citing irreconcilable differences, they all went their separate ways, leaving their followers in the dust. Division and bitterness make horrible foundations when trying to build something that will last.
The church has a beautiful opportunity to provide a safe and healthy community for those asking the big questions, yet we don’t always know how to start the conversations in fear we won’t have answers. I have been inspired by many churches who have opened their doors to programs such as Celebrate Recovery and Alpha, which offer weekly opportunities for those with hurts, habits, and hang ups to find refuge on holy ground.
Counterfeit communities will feed off our pain for their gain.
Christ-like communities will lead us to the Healer, Jesus Christ.
Once people find their way into our doors, our community can be Christ through first impression teams, care pastors, small group opportunities, ministries for every stage of life, and connection points beyond Sunday morning services.
Church, we must be willing to contend for Christ-like community. That word “contend” means, “to agonize. It is the spirit of true agony which possesses one who is contending. Agony of spirit and love for the Gospel should be in the heart of every believer. Contending means to fight while standing on the very thing being assaulted. It means to stand against all who undermine it.”
Are we willing to contend for community as the church in a world that is assaulting the church and encouraging people to walk away from not only the church family but their Heavenly Father? Are we willing to be disrupted on our way to our next thing to see spiritual orphans who are seeking a place to belong?
Community comes to the committed. Those willing to show up, serve, lead, and remain in position even when they don’t feel worthy or prepared. Community comes to those who are honest in their struggles, bondage, and fears of being hurt again, but who are desperate for freedom and friendship.
Are we as the church a safe place for those struggling to find a Savior?
Are we as leaders willing to have our lives interrupted to see others encounter the power of God?
God is shaking the foundations of this world preparing to return for a church built on Christ, the true Cornerstone.
May He find His church faithful and standing strong in the ruins.
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Excerpted from “The House That Jesus Built: Leading Our Churches Back to God’s Original Blueprint” © 2024 Natalie Runion. Used by permission of David C Cook. May not be further reproduced. All rights reserved.
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