Jay’s Travelogue

After the disintegration of our church last year we’ve been searching for a new one and I think we may have found it. It’s only taken about 10 months…

Click here to visit the church’s website.

I was thinking about this entire process (ordeal) the other day and it got me thinking about whether the church is even relevant any longer. In the end I think it still is, but certainly less so than it has been in then past and a lot of it is the fault of the church itself. Coincidentally the minister at our church preached on this same thing last Sunday as a part of the current series on Ethos.

Think about why a church exists, what it’s purpose is and what it means to the community it lives in.

First of all the church, as defined by The New Testament, is a body of like-minded believers, not a building. The Book of Acts describes the birth of the Church after the resurrection of Jesus Christ and shows how they grew and also how they behaved. The church detailed in the New Testament is often a far cry from the one that exists now. Too often modern day churches could be better described as selfish, exclusionary, prosperity-centric clubs. Our former church was not prosperity-centric, but had the other two down pretty well, much to my surprise. Since we left I’ve discovered that some of my non-caucasian friends did not feel at home in the church and the one time I did go back for a visit I got a little taste of it in relation to the black guest minister that day (who delivered a fantastic message). I found myself sickened and sad for the members.

How can a church serve by excluding people? Is there not enough hurt and pain in the world?

So what is the church doing to help heal the pain and suffering in the world? If the answer is nothing then what’s the point? Jesus Christ came to earth and changed everything. What are we doing?

Jesus reached out to the sick, tax collectors, lepers, and the condemned. He said to give to the needy, not to judge, to love our enemies, and to, above all else, love God and others.

So how do you think we, as the church, are doing? I think we’re wrong all too often and turn away a lot of hurting people because they aren’t like us and perhaps, because they make us uncomfortable. If we’re going to be relevant then we’re going to have to go outside our comfort zone and we’re going to have to be genuine human beings. If we’re not willing to be real and accept people for who they are then we might as well pack it in and stay home on Sunday, Wednesday and whenever it is we get together. We’re going to have to stop focusing on things that are irrelevant and start focusing on people, just like Christ.

Fortunately, whether the church as it exists today is relevant to the world or not, God always will be.

iTunes is playing Speeding Cars from the album “Goodnight and Go – Single” by Imogen Heap