When Immanuel began it was with the intent of being a place of belonging, believing, and becoming. While we didn't want to be a church that was defined in reaction to something else, this process was certainly a response to what some of our backgrounds had been.
Too often, being a part of the church begins and ends with believing. If you will answer "true" to the following set of belief statements, you can be a part of the church, at which point you can fill a pew until eternity and we'll never bother you again.
There are two problems with this way of thinking about church. First is that we are asking people to join up with a group that they have no life experience with, no reason to trust, no reason to believe in. We have long acted as if that didn't matter; if you believe the truth, you'll get on board.
But imagine it this way. If I pull into the neighbor's driveway and shout to their kids playing in the yard, "hey, get in, we're going to Disneyland!" should they get in the car with me? Does it make any difference whether I'm telling the truth or not? How are they to know?
On the other hand, if I pull into my driveway and shout to Harry, "we're going to Disneyland!" he has every reason to get excited. The truth of the promise is backed up by trust in the relationship.
Too often, we think that the fact that "Jesus is Lord" is true should be enough reason for others to jump in with us. We forget that they have no reason to trust us and, therefore, no reason to believe that the promise is true. Instead, church must be a place where others can simply belong and discover for themselves if the people and the promise are trustworthy.
The second problem with beginning and ending with belief is that we never move from being believers to disciples. Christians love to quote the great comission as their reason for trying to convince others to believe, but the great comission goes beyond belief. "Go into all the world and make disciples..." Jesus said. His intent is that our belief in Him should lead us into following Him. This is the "believing obedience" that Paul talks about in Romans. If we believe in Him we will become like Him ands follow His example.
And in becoming like Him, we will carry faith and hope and love to those most in need of it. We will provide a place to belong, a reason to believe, and a person to become. This is what it means to be the Body of Christ.
2 comments:
I share your conviction that we often try to spawn belief amongst people who don't trust anyone (much less us). Maybe there was a time when relationships could be predicated upon a common set of beliefs, but even if there was, it's over now. We have to stop trying to preach the gospel louder and in more creative ways and start trying to live it out and even to perform that gospel story in relationships with people we won't get to know accidentally. My prayers are with you guys. I believe in what you're doing and am excited to see you becoming the real deal in downtown Austin.
Rock on, Kes.
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