Nearly every day I'm coming across ideas, whether spoken or written, about how the church needs to reform itself in order to become relevant again in the world. So many people, with so many ideas, some of them good and some of them pretty ridiculous. I love the heart of these people, for most of them truly are writing these things out of genuine concern and love. They want the world to be a better place and are frustrated that the church seems to be coming up short in helping that occur.
So what is going on with the church? Why has cultural relevance seemed to be dampened? Why is attendance down in so many places? Why has the "other side" grown more and more hostile?
I propose that the answers are much simpler, but much more profound, than most would expect. The following ideas are what I believe would set the church up to be more impactful, more influential, and more beloved than it has ever been in world history.
1. Make Love the Priority.
"And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him." 1 John 4:16
Somewhere along the way the western church decided to make Truth the priority. Ideally, there is nothing wrong with this. Jesus is the Truth. Truth is what we stand on. Truth protects us and feeds us. Truth is loving, for real Truth is in God, and God is Love.
But in practice, Truth has taken the place of Love and relationship in the church. In its quest to protect the Truth, the church has often become combative and judgmental. The church has turned to believing it needs to protect the legacy of Jesus instead of following it. As if God needed protection! The beauty of Truth is that it cannot be defeated, and so we need to leave our fear of that happening down.
It is time for the church to make Love the priority again. Loving others, no matter what they believe, will change everything. This does not mean we stop preaching the Truth, it does not mean we lay down our morals. It means that we stop trying to convince others that they're wrong, and instead love them into an encounter with God. It's time for the people of the church to remember that it wasn't argument that brought them to Jesus, but meeting Him. It's time to remember that, and to stop believing that what didn't work for us will work for them.
"We love Him, because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19
2. Stop Playing the Victim and Embrace Thankfulness
"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:9
We all fall short here because life is hard, and it's not always our fault. But the church as a whole needs to reclaim it's identity. It's time the church stopped complaining that no one is listening and instead rejoice in who we are. Every person in the church has access to walk this life hand-in-hand with the Living God. We are His chosen children and we have eternal life. All of our sins have been forgiven. What about that is worse off than the rest of the world?
The church has become so fixated on what it doesn't have that it is missing what it does. The church should be the standard bearer for thanksgiving and praise! It should be the church that lives in joy no matter how hard things get. It should be the church that rejoices in knowing it has the keys to life, even when finances are tight or in losing a political battle. A church full of joy and thankfulness will be a church that people will not be able to avoid while a church full of victims is one nobody wants to attend. We are to acknowledge the problems we are struggling with while also constantly remembering the blessings we have received and will continue to receive.
A thankful church will always be a thriving church, and the world will wonder what makes us so different.
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Phillippians 4:6-7
3. Encourage Generosity and Learn from the Rich Instead of Shaming Them
"You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God." 2 Corinthians 9:11
One thing most of the church is actually pretty good at is giving money. Western churches are masters of fundraising, and any time the church gets behind an issue there is plenty of money to go around. This is to be celebrated!
Yet while the church is good at collecting gifts in its own walls, much of the church is failing at being generous in their daily lives. It is well known at restaurants that the Sunday rush after church brings with it many of the poorest tippers. I know, I've worked at four of them. This should not be! Christians should be known for their generosity, and not just out of excess. True generosity is giving something that costs us! This includes being generous with our time, something much of the church is loathe to be. Too many people are willing to put their tithe in the offering and then feel they shouldn't give anything else.
But that is to their loss, for even in sacrifice we are rewarded. That is the justice of God. The more we give out of sacrifice, the more He blesses us. This is affirmed by many verses in the Bible (Malachi 3:10 is my favorite), and by the lives of many people I've known.
The church also must stop shaming the rich. They are often the most generous people in the church, and even if they are not their wealth alone is not a sin. It is the love of money which is sinful, not wealth itself (1 Timothy 6:10). It is the love of money that prohibited the rich young man from being Jesus' disciple, not his riches. Much of the church has fallen into a place of constant judgment on the rich and powerful, and as a result have disqualified themselves from ever moving into those same positions of influence. If the church is ever to gain the prominence it once had again, it must teach people how to stay in wealth and power while still putting Jesus first. The shaming and judgment must stop, for we are pushing away those who understand most the keys to being influential.
"The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?" Luke 16:8-11
4. Unify"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe you sent me." John 17:20-21
I'm going to be blunt here, we the church are prohibiting the prayer of Jesus from being answered. We have been split so many ways by so many things that we are in no way acting as one church. So much of the time of the church is focused on its differences when it should be focused on its agreements.
When Martin Luther instigated the Reformation with his 95 Theses, he never intended for it to cause secession from the Catholic church but rather for the Catholic church to reform. His heart was for the church to remain unified.
This is not a call to all go back into the Catholic church, but to celebrate and unite with anyone who has accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, even if we disagree with them strongly on other issues. We are a family! We are the children of God! Children grow up and have disagreements, but they are still family. It is time for the church to open up its arms and embrace one another. It's time to celebrate the things we agree on and disagree in love without separation. So much of what has broken up the church is based on perspective, not on actual Biblical truth. It's time to humble ourselves and admit that even though we believe something the Bible is not 100% clear on, we could be wrong. It's time to value relationship over doctrine, just as Jesus did.
Imagine a world where Lutherans and Charismatics worked together! Imagine a world where Catholics and Pentecostals spoke honorably of one another! How much more could we teach the world if all the churches in every town loved one another as family despite disagreements? We are called to be the light of the world, but right now that light is a flicker of small lights barely shining. So many more people would embrace the church if only it embraced its own parts. Who would choose the fractured family over the whole one? It's time to come together, and see Jesus have His prayer answered.
"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:6
5. Embrace the Miraculous"Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." Matthew 10:8
This will probably be the most controversial of the points, which is why it is last.
Some years ago a very destructive philosophy entered the church, the philosophy of cessationism. It states that miracles stopped being a part of our regular lives once the Bible was put together. It is a lie from the devil, used to neuter the church in its spiritual power. It is such a powerful lie that many good men and women have fallen into its trap. Many Bible-believing Christians have completely ignored the command of Jesus to perform miracles because they are duped into believing a lie, and that lie completely changed how they interpreted the Bible. That lie caused them, and causes many still, to make excuses for much of the New Testament while ironically fiercely defending the Bible's relevance and perfection.
This lie has infiltrated most of the western church. Even where miracles are still believed in, they are mostly believed in with the addendum "I believe it will happen... if it's God's will."
Yet the New Testament is clear that God's will has been made known to us (Ephesians 1:9). There is no mystery about whether or not Jesus wants to heal sick people or cast out demons. He demonstrated His desire to do so when He healed or delivered every person who came to Him. Are we not also disciples of Christ? Then why are we ignoring His command?
The word "Christian" literally means "little Christ." It's almost comical that the same people who so vigorously defend the authenticity of the Bible also seem to think the authors of it made so many mistakes. It would be comical if it wasn't so sad. It's sad for them, but also for all the people who are fooled into thinking that their disease or affliction is somehow God's will for them. Did not Jesus tell us that it is every good gift that comes from God (Luke 11:13)? If we, who are evil, He says, would not give our kids scorpions when they ask for an egg, then why do we expect God to? Couldn't you make the argument that a sickness is even worse than a scorpion? So why are we ignoring the very words of God and telling people that their physical suffering is God's will for them?
Jesus used miracles to display God's love for people, and many came to Him as a result. The church, full of "little Christs" is meant to do the same. It's time we embrace the miraculous again and fulfill the will of God. We will be amazed at what happens.
We should all be doing what Todd is doing in this video. I've personally seen these things as well. They are real, God is doing them.
"Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven." James 5:14-15
ConclusionThe church is meant to be the embodiment of God's will for the earth. We are meant to show the world what Jesus looks like in order that they may know Him. Somewhere along the way we got lost. We forgot our identity and what we were called to do.
But the good news is that God is calling us back. He is giving us the keys to a new reformation. A reformation that this time will focus around unity, love, and the explosion of the Holy Spirit's power. God is marrying the best of the modern church with the best of the original church, and all the church has to do is embrace it to get healthy again. If it does, the world will never be the same.
"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 that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." Ephesians 3:10-11
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