Fixing the Church

Let’s jump right into this, shall we? I said yesterday that a situation involving a “hot-button issue” led me down the path to starting this blog. That issue was legalized abortion.

I can’t think of much that gets me more worked up than this particular topic. My wife and I have four young children of our own, and we have also suffered through the pain of a miscarriage. There is not a question in my mind that life begins at conception, and that the intentional termination of a pregnancy is equivalent to the taking of a life. I was one of the original founders of a pro-life activist group a few years ago, and I still maintain that legalized abortion is one of the greatest tragedies of our day.

That said, I have been radically rethinking the best way for the church to respond to this issue in light of the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, and I suspect that the political arena is not the best place to fight this battle.

Don’t misunderstand. I’m not asserting that Christians need to abstain from political involvement. I still maintain my conviction that I, personally, can not in good conscience vote for a candidate whom I believe, by being elected, will contribute to an increased number of abortions.

But I suspect, as a friend first pointed out to me last November, that perhaps crafty politicians have been manipulating Christians for several decades now, using the issue of abortion as a mere tool to clinch the conservative vote, even when it’s a candidate who is hardly worth supporting on many other issues. We get suckered in by the “lesser of two evils” argument, when really we should never have stood for this candidate rising to the top of our nomination list in the first place. I think we have allowed a precedent to become established, one in which a person can claim to be “pro-life” and thus be the candidate for whom most of the Church will vote, regardless of that person’s pro-life history of actions or lack thereof. We have elected people who we thought would overturn Roe v. Wade, only to see them focus their efforts entirely elsewhere.

Beyond that, however, I have begun to think that perhaps it is impossible to ultimately win a victory over abortion through legislation. I don’t buy into the argument that “you can’t legislate morality,” because that is precisely what laws are — a legislation of common morality — but the bigger question is, how does that common morality become established to the point that we want to make it law?

I would contend that the only true answer to ending or reducing abortion is found in the spreading of the Gospel, and that any long-term effort by the Church involving the issue of abortion that is not centered around the sharing of the Gospel serves only to distract the Church, and is ultimately destined to fail.

The difficulty faced by much of the pro-life community is that each year, it seems fewer people have a moral objection to abortion while an increasing number see it as a right and freedom of choice to which each woman is entitled. And therein lies the dilemma, because laws in a democracy are not based upon a common standard of good and evil. Those laws serve as the definition of good and evil, and those laws are determined by what we, the people, perceive to be good and evil. If the majority of people feel something is wrong, we pass a law against it. If the majority feel that it is okay, we legalize it. Such is the case with abortion, and each year, fewer people seem to find abortion morally objectionable.

With that being the case, what could we possibly expect other than to see fewer restrictions and greater access to abortion?

And what a pathetic strategy have we adopted, to stamp our feet angrily and demand that the legislation be different than it is? The only way to successfully fight abortion on a strictly political and legal front is to once again become the majority, and we’ve done exceedingly little to make that happen.

But how do we convince others, as we are so deeply convinced, that abortion is wrong?

Perhaps the first question should be, “From what source do we learn right from wrong?” The answer, simply, is by “rightly dividing the Word of Truth,” and by the conviction of the Holy Spirit “concerning sin, righteousness and judgment.”  But what of a country (and a world at large) who do not know the Word, and who have not received the Holy Spirit? Should we expect anything but for them to form faulty perceptions of right and wrong without the moral compasses of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit?

Changing minds will never be enough. We must change hearts if we are to truly address the evils in the world.

Political arguments may sometimes change minds, but they cannot change hearts. Only the Gospel of Christ can change hearts. Only in the carrying out of our Great Commission, to preach the Gospel and make disciples of all nations, could we ever expect to see laws on earth that reflect the values of the Kingdom.

And if this really were the case, if we were faithful in proclaiming the Gospel to the point that many, many hearts began to turn toward Christ, would our earthly laws regarding abortion even be necessary?

I have spent so much time thinking about the issue as a whole that I have been guilty of completely neglecting the people themselves who are impacted.

Think of the young mother, scared, facing an unplanned pregnancy that she perceives may ruin her life. God deeply loves this young woman, every bit as much as he loves the child growing inside of her. What will serve this young woman best — a law forcing her to carry the baby to term, or the transformational power of the Gospel message that will enable her to choose correctly?

And think of the baby itself; we concern ourselves so much with saving his life (and this is laudable) but what then? Should we not be equally concerned about the salvation of this child, and of his ability to grow up in a home where God is honored? All of this and more can be accomplished if our focus is, first and foremost, on sharing the love of Christ with the woman facing the unexpected pregnancy.

I think we’re scared and lazy. We’re more scared of preaching the Gospel than we are of holding a picket sign. We’re lazy because we know a political rally will be over in a day, but coming alongside an unwed mother and helping her raise the child she’s decided to carry could take years and involve stress, heartache, and sacrifice. Why do we seem so determined to take the easier route?

We have allowed others to distract us within this issue from fulfilling our highest calling, and we then go on to further distract ourselves in our zeal.

We must return to preaching the Gospel. Without this, all of our efforts are in vain.

March tenth, two thousand nine. It’s been over five months — almost half a year — that I’ve been contemplating this blog.

It began in October when the campaigns for the 2008 presidential election were in full swing. By the time that election week arrived, I was so entrenched in a political issue that has long been a hot-button topic for me that I found myself abandoning what I inwardly knew to be my calling and commission as a disciple of Christ. As many well-intentioned Christians often do, I convinced myself that it was more important to “stand up” for what I believed to be right than it was to display the love, humility, patience and gentleness that should mark the life, speech and actions of a believer.

When Election Day was over and the dust began to settle, I began to evaluate the results of what I had believed to be some noble stand on my part. I slowly began to arrive at the uncomfortable realization that I had behaved quite shamefully and succeeded only in making an ass of myself to a rather large number of people. I had treated a fellow sister in Christ, one whom I respect deeply for her dedication to the Kingdom, with such scorn and derision for what I believed to be an errant position on her part that I had only succeeded in twisting myself into a hateful distortion of Christian zeal. In the process, I also caused another close friend, one who knows about my faith but does not share it, to radically and negatively change the way she perceived me. Suddenly, I became just another televangelist, an angry preacher pounding his fist against a pulpit, one of the sort who demeans the lost as evil sinners instead of pointing them toward the redemption of the cross, and one who would recklessly plow over another believer for the purpose of simply trying to win an argument.

As weeks passed, I began to realize not only that I had embarrassed myself by my selfish behavior, but also that God was telling me something even more unsettling: I wasn’t right for the wrong reasons; I was simply wrong.

I am a stubborn person, and though I would like to imagine that I am growing in humility as I grow in age, I know this is far from the truth. Yet, the realization that my entire approach and premise to this particular hot-button issue may have been wrong was what started me down the path of thought, prayer, and Scripture that eventually led to the creation of this blog.

I think that perhaps I am not alone and that many Christians tend to fall into the same trap that so often entangles me — that is, to miss the forest for the trees, so intent on upholding good over evil that we forget our primary purpose, calling, and commission as the Body of Christ: to love God, love others, share the Gospel, and make disciples. My supposed “bold stand” against what I still believe to be one of the great evils of our day was earnestly intended, but fatally misguided, because it communicated love to no one, turned people away from the Gospel, and built up no believer in the faith.

At some point in the near future, I will address this particular “hot-button issue” as well as several others. I will explain why I am gradually changing my mind entirely about the way issues like this should, and must, be approached. Suffice it to say it is vastly different from the fiery sermon I attempted to deliver last November.

But for now, I wanted to simply share, as opening thoughts, the situation that started this whole process and led me to this point. I want to admit freely that this “challenge to the church to rediscover its highest calling,” which I have presented as the simplified explanation of the admittedly presumptuous title “Fixing the Church,” is a challenge coming from one who is repeatedly guilty of the very things from which I intend to call the global church away.

And in the interest of full disclosure, though I prefer to maintain some degree of anonymity as I don’t really know where this blog will take me, it’s only fair that I acknowledge that I have been involved in ministry, both volunteer and vocationally, for nearly all of my adult life (which sounds long, but I’m honestly not that old). That said, I do not intend to share any of the thoughts that follow as any sort of minister or some sort of spiritual authority, or some learned Bible scholar, or some mouthpiece charged by God with a holy message to deliver.

I simply hope to share with you that which God is teaching me in my own life, and which I think may have broad relevance for Christians around the world as well. Fixing the church must begin with you and me. I believe that God gives us the privilege of being part of each other’s growing process, and I hope not only to share my thoughts with you, but also to engage you in conversation and read your feedback, that we might both grow as a result.

This comes with the full expectation that parts of this process may prove controversial. We Christians don’t like to be told that we need to “fix” anything. We like sermons that make us feel like we are right on track and free to go about our business, when God tells us instead that he continually refines us as gold in the fire, and molds us as the potter shapes the clay. Growth is never comfortable. It’s been no easy process for me to reflect on the events of five months ago and say into the mirror, “I was wrong.”

And I’ll inevitably mess things up along the way; I will have moments of stupidity that you will hopefully help me rethink. Like I said, I’m no authority. I’m just a guy who loves Jesus and is trying to discover how God is calling me to change, even if those changes go against the status-quo of American church culture.

I hope that you’ll embark on this journey with me. Welcome to “Fixing the Church.”