1. Literally anyone can participate.
(How that makes it great…)
The religion Christ taught his disciples to create is wide open. It crosses cultural boundaries and political boundaries. It is based on the universal principle of love. Everything emanates out from that central, unifying fact. Christ came to love, Christianity is based on love.
That central basis on love means that anyone, anywhere, anytime can participate. There are no requirements or restrictions on who can participate in Christ’s religion. A person does not have to dress, act, think, or speak a certain way to be a part of the Christian community. The nature of Christianity should make church the most accessible, comfortable place in the world for a person to be.
(How we’ve missed it…)
Unfortunately, Church is one of the most intimidating places for a person to go if they don’t know anyone. It stands above many other social situations because of the fear of guilt and judgement one may experience. We subtly create restrictions around who can and cannot participate in our religion.
People should not have to be nervous about going to church. We should not be known as a place of judgment or condemnation. The Christian Church should be universally known as a safe place for people to go to be loved.
We are not.
2. The Christian message can be fit in to any culture.
(How that makes it great…)
The Christian message is universal. Christ’s message of love was meant for all people in all economic and social situations. The notion that God passionately loves all people and Christ came to connect us with that love has no cultural consideration. The message can work in Orange County, California. It can also work in Sudan.
I became a Christian because my parents were Christians. I stayed a Christian because I came to understand the core message of God’s unending, unrelenting, passionate and free love. I stayed because I recognized that love and salvation extended to all people with no conditions or fine print. I stayed because I realized the Gospel was universal and could be expressed through the Culture, not in spite of it.
(How we’ve missed it…)
Much like the Jews in Galatians who preached that people needed to be circumcised to truly experience Christ’s saving work, the modern American church has mistaken our culture for Christianity. We have spent a long time nursing a near pathological need to scripturally prove everything that we do. This has resulted in us confusing our cultural preferences for Christian fundamentals.
Christians do this with all kinds of things. Alcohol, dancing, manners of dress, scientific discovery…every Christian group has their own thing. We end up protecting our culture more than we work on spreading the Gospel.
When we confuse our culture with the Gospel, we limit its capacity to work.
3. Christianity can be a positive part of the culture.
(Why that makes it great…)
At the beginning of the Book of Acts, it is said that the Church enjoyed the favor of their community. They were so focused on helping people that even those who did not accept the religion thought well of them…with few exceptions.
Christianity should be popular. We should be seen as a group of people who love everyone, especially those we disagree with. We should be seen as compassionate. We should be seen as caring, as accepting. Christ was seen that way. Generally, the early Church was seen that way. Christians have the awesome ability to build real relationships with people outside our religion.
(How we’ve missed it…)
We have positioned ourselves as a negative entity that is against the culture. We fell in love with spiritual warfare and picked a fight with the culture around us. (We are currently losing that fight, if anyone is interested.) We positioned ourselves as anti-homosexual, anti-abortion, anti-secular music, anti-secular schools and anti-a lot of things. We are known for what we are against.
When we are known for what we are against, we have failed miserably.
Very few people like us.
We don’t notice because in fighting the culture and separating ourselves, we really only hang out with other Christians. (Also, anybody who doesn’t like us is a tool of the Devil.) We like ourselves, so what’s the problem?
We should be viewed as Christ was viewed. People knew he was loving. People knew he was accepting. People knew he was compassionate. People knew he was king. People knew he was safe.
They don’t know that about us…but they could!
I write this because I have faith in our ability to reclaim what makes Christianity great. It will take some work and some of us will be uncomfortable, but we can do it.
growntolove 