An exciting morning in the USA Today! A peak into the cultural landscape we are trying to reach and The First Republican Church of America...

So yesterday morning, I'm working the 5am shift at Starbucks, and someone happened to leave their USA today. It was unusually slow, and so I had some time to lean against the counter and read this someone's USA today. Two articles were beautiful. I thought I'd give a synopsis and share it with you, the readers who don't and won't read this blog.

Spiritual Growth Nurtured Within
So basically, there are religious folks and those who do not consider themselves relgious, but rather spiritual. This article says a growing number of Americans are recognizing the need to develop their inner life. What an exciting time for the Gospel! Interestingly enough, 72% of people in this survey the article is about believe that God exists, and 86% of those folks said they can have a good relationship with God without belonging to the church. The wrong question to ask at this point would be, "where has America gone wrong?" The right question, the tough question, is "what has the church done wrong?"

The church is supposed to be missional. Mission is her identity. If we sent missionaries to Kenya to set up camp, we'd expect these missionaries to learn Kenyan culture, to involved themselves in the community they're living in, to build relationships, and to both embody the Gospel and share the Gospel in a way that connects to the culture. I also suspect the large group gatherings of their church would not have an organ, probably not be in an air conditioned building... I suspect these missionaries would look for ways to bring cultural elements familiar with the people into the gathering so that people can express themselves in a way people in the culture they are trying to reach connect with.

So why not here? First, and most importantly, why isn't the church, the people, the prime community to connect with God? Because she has divorced herself from western culture. Many of the things she does is unfamiliar with the culture, and many of the things the culture does is unfamiliar with the church. The chasm must be bridged. It must begin with relationships so that people see Jesus in us. They must see believers not just talking about faith, but living in the way of Jesus. We must see this opportunity as prime to point people towards Jesus.

"You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16

A city on a hill is not a church building. The light of the world is not a church building. Sometimes we are like the lamp that was lit and put under a basket... the basket being the walls of a church building. And we do everything under the basket. We play, we do all our social events, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, Tuesday Bible Study, Friday fellowship dinner... we are like that, the lamp that is hidden, when Jesus has said, "Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven." How can they see your good works unless there is a relationship, unless you are involved in the lives of others and they are involved in yours? Let it shine before men... not under a lamp for all the church people...


A Plea from Evangelicals - from an Evangelical
This was an an editorial, and one quote is worthy of posting:

"If there are people who reject God or the church, Christianity... because of what conservative evanglical political activists do, this is disastrous from a Christian point of view. Here we are at the very heart of our religious mission, and it is getting fouled up by our politics. [...] Once any group of Christians gives itself away so completely to a political party, it ceases to be the church. The church becomes a branch office of the group's political party of choice - The First Republican Church of America. [...] The fundamental task of a religious organization is to serve God, not win in secular politics.

[...]

"Specifically for Christians, we (should) know that the mission of the church is to be Christ's faithful people, and to do its core work of preaching, teaching and serving our neighbors. If it is true (as we boldly believe) that the church is the central location for the work God is doing to redeem the world, then our focus should be on the church's work, not the state's."

In one word, though many could be said, beautiful.