The church here in America is at a crossroads. We are building and planting churches every week it seems and in every corner of our communities. We seem to be trying to reach others for Christ's kingdom and His purpose. As we build, our country as we know it has become hostile to Christianity. Our children have looked at us and our churches with disdain in their eyes. Our children, despite our best intentions, efforts or programs are walking away from the church. This leads me to question: WHY? And my answer is simply this: White-washing of our faith. White-washing Christ's power in us. We reach to others without delivering the Full Gospel message of power, stability, provision, healing and majesty with limited conviction, lest we offend. The power of Christ in us is what changes us. Anyone truly living in Christ today realizes that, but we fail to communicate it in our teaching, programs and lifestyle.
American Christianity has taken the route of prepackaged themes, ideas and homogenized thinking that has given a polish to our faith. Attend many services and you will find that the services are well thought out, seeker friendly and non-offensive. Everything fits in a neat little package that is easily palatable so that the message of hope can be presented. The idea is to make church as comfortable and welcoming as possible so that relationships are cultivated, congregants will bring their friends to church, and the church will inevitably grow.
This formula has worked for a number of modern churches who now, having tasted the success of membership and multiple campuses, even teach smaller churches how to do what they themselves have done. It sounds generous enough. After all, the formula worked for them, and now it can work for us.
With so many "successful" churches, one would believe that the state of the Faith would be stronger, but the truth is, it's much weaker. Because of the use of programs, themes and homogenized messages, we as church leaders have forgotten where the true power of the Gospel lies, and that is within the person of Jesus Himself. Instead of giving people the true power of Christ, we white-wash the message and strip it of its supernatural power that comes only from Christ Himself. The end result is a Christianity that is weak and powerless, and thereby ineffective. Peoples' lives remain unaffected and uneffective for the witness that we as Christians are called to as His Bride.
Jesus didn't use a formula to reach people. He went to where the people were and gave them Himself. He loved them where they were at, despite their sins, which He called into repentance. He didn't wait for relationship to be established, but by His authority He called out to sinners, and healed their iniquities both physical and spiritual. He didn't care about their current situation, but still He chose to accomplish the purpose of the Gospel by presenting it in the fullness of its power and its truth. Jesus expected repentence and sanctification so that the Bride of Christ would experience the fullness of its power, forgiveness and truth.
This is not to say there were no offended people. People were offended. The Jewish leadership was quite offended. People were so offended that they tried to kill Jesus and expected to succeed, however the victory was the Lord's. Those who accepted the Truth of Jesus' Gospel were truly set free, just as Jesus was set free from the grave.
Those of us in Christ need to remember this when sharing the Gospel with those around us. The truth of the Gospel has no tolerance for sin, and has far greater reaching power than any theme or earthly relationship. When we give a person Christ, in the fullness of repentence because of His sacrifice, there is power in that gift. This power surpasses any earthly relationship, program or theme. This is the power of Christ in mortal man to accomplish great things for His kingdom.
