Unsettled times

We are living in very unsettled times. The costs of fuel continue to rise driving up the prices of everything else we need. Families are feeling the pinch and having to make hard lifestyle choices. Home foreclosures in America continue at record rates. We remain stuck in yet another war we cannot win that we entered based upon false and misleading information. Drugs and violence continue unchecked and have now infiltrated even smaller communities that used to be relatively free from such problems. The politicians are apparently helpless to do anything to resolve any of these issues, or any other issue for that matter. Business and industry will not address the problems because many of the problems are the result of their greed, and to solve the problems of high fuel costs and other issues would eat into their profits. Science and technology seem to create almost as many new problems as they resolve. Many people today now realize none of the institutions they used to believe would protect them are capable to doing so in the 21st century. Like the individual in one of Jesus' parables, they realize they have built their lives on sand, and the storms of life are now threatening their existence. Some are looking for spiritual answers; they are looking for God but uncertain where they will find Him.

We see this searching every time we enter a book store and read the titles of newly released books. We see it whenever we watch a talk show and hear some new philosophy touted as the cure for people's problems. Books like The Secret sell millions of copies because people are wanting something to believe in. Oprah is now promoting an author who has introduced a new belief system that she believes will save the world. Of course, it's not a new belief system at all. It's the age-old religion that places man at the center of life and leaves Jesus Christ out.

This search for God is providing the church with a great opportunity to present the truth claims, not of some modern-day guru, but of Jesus Christ. One of the challenges we face is that while many people are searching for God they are not searching for Him in our churches. In fact, that may be the last place they would believe they would find God.

Let's face it...the church today is carrying a lot of baggage. Too many of our national leaders have experienced well-publicized moral failures. Too many of our congregations have been more interested in building great buildings rather than helping people build great lives. We have spent too much time fighting one another rather than looking for ways to work together. Too many of us prefer to re-live the 1950's instead of entering the 21st century. Too many of us have adopted an attractional model of ministry (our doors are open every Sunday and we hope you'll join us) instead of a going ministry as we were commanded to do by the Great Commission. We simply have been more interested in sitting in our comfortable pews rather than engaging the world by trying to understand it and being willing to enter it. I could list more baggage, but this is enough to keep many people from believing they would ever encounter God is such an environment.

If we want to truly make a difference in people's lives we must enter the world in which they live. That does not mean we compromise our faith or our values. It does mean we become willing to understand their world, learn to speak their language, and begin to present Jesus Christ to them in ways that will be meaningful to them. It means we find ways to enable them to worship God even if "we've never done it that way before." It means we love them as Christ loves them. Our small bivocational churches can have a great impact on our comunities if we will do these things. I believe these unsettled times have given us a great opportunity. Let's not miss it.