From Rejection to Renewal

I don't know why this particular topic caught me today. Perhaps it was the YouVersion verse of the day, John 3:16-17 that triggered it. John 3:16 is the most quoted and familiar Bible passage ever. That's my opinion since I didn't look up any statistics to back it up. It is also incredibly inclusive. So why is it that the church that has promoted this verse is so often exclusive?

I'm not the only one asking that question. Years ago a friend of mine who had been through a traumatic marriage relationship with an abusive man finally broke free by divorcing him. The next time she went back to her hometown to visit family an usher at the church where she grew up deftly cut her out of the line for Holy Communion and escorted her back to her seat. The reason given by the pastor was that her divorce had disqualified her from receiving the sacrament.

I heard that story over twenty years ago but it still sticks with me. Stories like that haunt me because there are far too many of them being told by far too many people. Somehow the church that represents God who loved the world so much that he gave the life of his only son to restore relationship with all of us is better known for rejecting people than accepting them. Perhaps this is an insidious Satanic subterfuge rendering the church irrelevant in our culture. But that doesn't mean we have to stand for it.

If we who are passionate followers of Jesus Christ have any hope of impacting the world for His sake then we must find a new way to express ourselves. Traditional church isn't cutting it...and hasn't been for a very long time. Our churches are aging, shrinking and dieing. Yet interest in all things spiritual is exploding. The younger generations start from an assumption that the Christian church is irrelevant and work from there.

Those who are successfully escaping this perception are the ones who have left the church building and begun engaging the world live and in person. Faith in action is winsome. Putting no limits on who you will serve or how you will serve is compelling. Living out Christ's call to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, house the homeless and care for widows and orphans is unassailable. When we leave our churches and start worshiping God with our whole bodies, resources and energies a new day dawns for the Body of Christ. That is the Church. And that Church is being renewed yet again as God raises us from death to life.