What if you could create a church that was exactly the way you would have it? What would it look like? Who would come? Who would you impact? How many lives would you end up making a positive influence on? Who, in effect, might that group actually end up building up walls for rather than bringing people closer to the way of Jesus of Nazareth?
Now, what if you had to choose a church in your area and accept it for all of its flaws, but also felt comfortable enough to bring someone with many different life experiences? What would you place as the biggest priority of the group? Community? “Jesus”? The trinity? The people you attracted? How the message was relayed?
What if there was a church that placed value in all of these areas? What if there was a church that placed a high value on the mystery of God, yet still said there were countless ways to get to know the Divine? What if this church drew lines in the sand on many things, but accepted you regardless of your faith background?
What if there was a church that was filled with diversity? What if at this place there were suburban and urban people, hippies and rockers, rappers and someone who’s been shot 9 times (no…50 cent doesn’t go to this church, but he would be welcomed), vegetarians and meat lovers, young and vibrant, old and wise, and people with young families?
What if there was a church that truly valued people more than anything else? What if one of the core values was to never let the building become a financial priority sucking up unnecessary resources, but still found a place large enough for gathering? What if this place threw a free breakfast for your city and had a woman so touched and overwhelmed when she found this out that tears steamed down from her face (sounds like Coldplay lyrics)? What if this lady, the week before this mother’s day event, was evicted from her home because of actions caused by her helping hand to her own daughter and son-in-law? What if this church bought her a bus pass after providing a free meal, no strings attached? What if you had someone from this church community who lost his job in a tough economy and another married couple from the church agreed to let this young man live with them while he worked and saved up enough money to be on his own again? What if another group left a couple of days ago to go build schools in the rainforests of South America? What if you had people in your congregation who struggled with binge eating, alcoholism, weed smoking, pride, lust, and anything else under the sun? What if in spite of these things, these people daily tried to make strides towards becoming more like their Creator?
What if at Christmas time, a teacher from the church group came to the community and said that there were tons of children in need for clothes, food, and school supplies? What if the church sacrificed receiving any sort of money for 6-8 weeks and gave it all to children in need? What if there was a devastating tragedy of a local 9 year girl being shot and killed and the community deciding to take its entire offering of over $500 to give to the family?
What if your worship leader had dread-locks? What if you had a whole host of musicians and worship leaders that all brought different ideas and talents to the service? What if there were no performances, but instead there were frequent times of silence and reflection? What if as a sign of unity, communion was done during every Sunday morning gathering?
What if there was a church that believed in equality? What if there was a church that believed that woman could be just as good (if not better) leaders than men and that the idea of men being over woman was not only wrong, but harmful to half of humanity? What if there was a church that had a homosexual couple that drove over an hour to come join the community because they felt comfortable? What if there was a church that didn’t judge the couple immediately when they walked in the door? What if there was a church that said, “we don’t make policies on people”? What if this group also had people end up at all sorts of stances on gay marriage and any other sort of hot topic issue? What if the worship leader told this homosexual couple that God loved them, but that there were people in the group who would say that was sexual sin, just like the rest of us had sexual sin in our lives? What if that couple said that they respected that much more than simply saying God loves you and you can do no wrong? What if all of us sinners were growing together? Read More »
