Losing faith, regaining hope.

If you have ever lost faith in someone, you know what a painful experience it is.  We have all experienced this in the context of our first crush, unless of course you married and are still married to your first crush.  Sometimes it happens in a more serious romantic relationship.  Losing faith in a friend ends that friendship.  It happens sometimes when we are betrayed; sometimes faith is lost in us when we are the betrayer.  Some times the loss of faith is so huge that it ends marriages.  On earth, few things could be more devastating than that loss of faith.  On one occasion, my wife and I were counseling a young lady who was going through a divorce.  Both of them had lost faith in each other, with due cause, and the loss was so great that they settled on divorce as their least objectionable option.  At the same time, a young lady in our church lost her husband in a freak accident.  The divorcee confessed one day, “I think it is easier for her (the girl whose husband died).  At least for her it is over.  This is a pain that doesn’t end; it just keeps dragging out.”  If you have ever lost faith in someone you can relate to that pain.

I recently confided to a friend being a church consultant exposes you to the very best and the very worst of the church. 

I have in many ways lost faith in the church.  Let me hasten to clarify!  I have not lost faith in The Church the bride of Christ, which is the company of all faithful people, the army of God that overcomes persecution and will one day stand in victory along side of Jesus.  I have lost faith or am losing faith in the church in many of its contemporary expressions.  Let me offer an example.  A friend of mine along with his wife visited a very hip, ultra contemporary church.  It was the kind of church that is long on marketing, image, the right look, cool music, and ‘dynamic worship’.  They visited just before Christmas and the pastor summed up the incarnation by saying, “It was like God became a dude and lived with us for a while.”  I am currently reading St. Athanasius’ On The Incarnation.  And while he is completely understandable, he shows that the incarnation is so much more sublime than “God became a dude and lived with us for a while”.  I fear cool and relevant has replaced holy and reverent.  I wish the stories of sloppy teaching were rare; they are not.  And it is not just sloppy teaching that makes my heart break in many places for the church.  I am losing faith in the institution.

I am losing faith in the systems that we have created.  I am losing faith in all the fads that seem to sweep over the church like waves on the seashore.  I have seen the promise of a new day of ministry in everything from bus ministry to seeker-driven, multi-site churches.  Each new revolution is supposed to propel the church to a new golden age of ministry.  Each only becomes a flash in the pan.  All these great innovations are like the revolution of the mimeograph machine; give it a few years and you only laugh at it.

I am losing faith in the church, but I am regaining hope.  I am regaining hope as I see people focusing more on being disciples and less on being at the coolest church.  I see signs of hope as people are seeking Christ more than a congregation or a denomination. 

Last week, I witnessed this hope as a preacher challenged his leaders to focus on the vast majority of people, especially young people, who haven’t found the answers to life because they have not yet encountered Christ.  There was no appeal to the new, coolest, hip ministry method; it was an appeal to be Christ’s body in the community.  The incarnation of God to hurting people.   He spoke of a very shy, young lady who with absolutely no faith connection except one friend in youth group decided to attend Bible study even when her friend could not attend because something in the Bible study resonated with the questions she has.  He asked how many other lonely, isolated people were in the community that had questions for which the church had answers.

I hear it as I talk with preachers who tell me how they want to return to the pattern of the early church for community, evangelism, and discipleship.  A church where focus is not on large meetings and events, but in learning deeply the trues of Scripture and living in such a way that people know Christians are different.

I got the picture from a church administrator who told me, “We believe the church is people, so we don’t have buildings.  We want to put our resources in people not real estate.”  This didn’t come from some crackpot, home church on the fringe of society, but a church with 100s of disciples meeting in homes and rented spaces.

Admittedly these examples are a minority.  In some cases they represent a glimpse of light in other wise dark situations, congregation or denominations.  But they are there.  I want to have my heart stirred by such moments so that as I lose faith in the institution, I can regain hope in the Church, the body of Christ. 

The church is dead

Long Live the CHURCH.