Church Issues

“A Church for People Who Don’t Like Church”

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Don't Like Church?A church located on one of the major highways that we routinely  travel has a huge sign out front that reads

“A Church for People Who Don’t Like Church.”

I think about that sign every tiime I pass it, wondering what it is about “church” that shoos away the average person. Those of us who have been churchgoers for a long time take going to church for granted, but if the polls are right, more and more people are staying home on Sunday.

So what say you all? What do you believe are the parts of the whole we call “church” that people don’t like?

Just Plain Christian?

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Simple, stark crossLast week at the Boar's Head Tavern, Josh Strodtbeck noted how easily we refer to any ideology as "liberal" or "conservative," and how those ideologies, even when theological, mirror those of the Democrats and Republicans.

The problem with those labels, however, is the same pothole I discussed in my post "Either Faithfulness or Relevance?" We're perpetually forcing dichotomies where none should exist. Instead, we cling to one ideological side or the other without ever asking if the truth can be found somewhere in-between.

I'm sure that most of you readers would self-label as conservative Christians if forced to choose between that and being a liberal Christian. But I wonder if a more "radical middle" exists that blurs the stereotypes we commonly attach to both of those theological ideologies.

Consider the liberal/conservative Christian trait emphasis table below:

Liberal Christian

Conservative Christian

Mainline

Evangelical

God is Love

God is Holy

Jesus the Servant

Jesus the Savior

The Holy Spirit quickens

The Holy Spirit convicts

The Bible is the story of salvation

The Bible is the Word of God

The authority of the believer

The authority of Scripture

The Gospel is for Man

The Gospel is for God

Christ in community

Christ in the individual

Praxis

Doctrine

Mystery

Certainty

The least of these

The saints

Justice

Judgment

The stewardship of Creation

The New Heaven and New Earth

The poor in spirit

The rich in Christ

The imaginative

The concrete

Salvation is a process

Salvation is a singular event

Meditation

Study

Horizontal relationship

Vertical relationship

Freedom

Discipline

Corporate sin

Personal sin

Doubt is healthy

Doubt is crippling

Immanence

Transcendence

Feeling

Thinking

Sacramental

Authoritative

For the one who is not against us is for us.

(Mark 9:40 ESV)

Whoever is not with me is against me….

(Matthew 12:30a ESV)

Is it possible that the boundaries defined by these oft-used traits are false? If so, why do we cling so readily to arguments that reinforce one side over the other?

What would a Christianity look like in 21st century America that sees no paradox in combining mystery and certainty? Or uniformly emphasizes both Christ in community and Christ in the individual?

Is it possible to be neither a conservative Christian nor a liberal one, but something altogether better than either? And if so, why is it so hard for us to live that out?

Dude, Where’s My Church?

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Church demolitionYes, Cerulean Sanctum has jumped the shark. I used the title of an Ashton Kutcher movie for a post. This also marks the second time in eight days that Kutcher's been mentioned on this blog.

Shame on me.

Shame, too, on the Supreme Court for the land grab they hatched in last year's Kelo Decision (see this past post, "R.I.P. America, June 23, 2005").

According to this Washington Times article, in just one year under Kelo, eminent domain rulings resulted in 5,783 property seizures. Compare that one year total with the five year total encompassing 1998-2002 in which 10,281 properties were seized.

Before Kelo came to light, I focused on this issue in my post "Taking Away Your Church Building". It troubles me that we Christians are failing to consider how easy it is for our church buildings to be seized by local, state, and federal governments for any and all purposes.

There's a difference between conspiracy theories and preparedness. Land grabs against churches are increasing yearly (see this post for a few instances). To ensure the maximum possible tax revenue, towns are also blocking the building of new churches in areas of prime development. A quick Google search will turn up plenty of instances for these kinds of strong-arm tactics.

So why aren't we Christians as a whole doing anything about it? Are our church leaders making plans in case we have to go underground?  It hasn't come to that yet, but it's better for us to be thinking now about how we do church in a hostile social environment rather than later.

Rome is burning, folks. So why do our church leaders keep on fiddling?