I've just come from the ClereEconomics conference where I heard Rosa Lee Harden, Tim Soerens, and Derrick Braziel speak. And the question I'm left with is this...
We've forgotten that we are not called to bring people into a building, but to be the glue that holds a community together. Forgotten that Jesus called us to life abundant, full of hope. We've forgotten that Jesus says we will do greater works than he. We've forgotten how to dream big, long-term, with the idea of beginning something that will not be completed in our lifetimes.
But what if we remembered all that? What if we lived and dreamed and worked as a Church and body of believers that had faith in the idea that we could do more? What if we started a project with the idea of leaving a legacy? What if we acted as if there were no limits?
Why has social justice and community development become optional for the Church today?
Much of what Rosa Lee had to say was about how we cannot follow Jesus and opt out of this conversation. When we look at the early church in Acts 4 we see a community centering unlike we know today. They shared among themselves all they had. Today we don't even see most church members give a 10% tithe (after taxes). What changed that made us move from an economy of compassion to an economy of greed?
I'm sure that somewhere along the way the phrase "it's too hard" was uttered, and the easy road became most traveled. Too often as non-profits (and make no mistake churches are non-profits), we operate under a mentality of scarcity. The money is scarce and we have to compete and be fearful of how long it will last. And eventually that trickles into your theology, and then the general Christian worldview.
We started asking Church questions and stopped asking God questions. How much? How many? became the driving force of our actions instead of the question Why am I doing this? and Where is God already working and how do I join? We started counting the things we give away to someone we deemed needy instead of celebrating relationships and life transformation.
We've forgotten Ecclesiastes 9:4 "Every living thing has a hope..."
We've forgotten that we are not called to bring people into a building, but to be the glue that holds a community together. Forgotten that Jesus called us to life abundant, full of hope. We've forgotten that Jesus says we will do greater works than he. We've forgotten how to dream big, long-term, with the idea of beginning something that will not be completed in our lifetimes.
But what if we remembered all that? What if we lived and dreamed and worked as a Church and body of believers that had faith in the idea that we could do more? What if we started a project with the idea of leaving a legacy? What if we acted as if there were no limits?
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