Goodbye Cruel church — Plucking and Planting

First homes have a way of holding a special place in our hearts. I often think about the first home Niki and I purchased, so many years ago. It was a 1920's craftsmen that had been originally built in Pontiac and then was moved to Waterford to make room for the GM plant. There was a lot of history in that home before we had even moved in. We were situated in a fairly quiet lake community, I don't know there is any other kind of neighborhood in Waterford. We had a Convenience/Liquor Store just down the street, which could be dangerous for 20 somethings. We had an authentic Mexican restaurant pretty much in our backyard that sold the best guacamole, which can be equally dangerous for... anyone. We had a small detached garage that sat further from the quiet street and next to the garage sat the remains of a large garden. Some of the plants continued to come up year after year even though we never tended to the garden. Next to the garage there was a large plant that wasn't attractive but really wasn't ugly either. We were new to home ownership and unsure if it was some sort of decorative tree or bush so we just let it grow. As time passed, this small tree grew and grew until the base of it must have measured 5 inches. The branches of the tree rubbed against the siding and its shade covered the remains of that once vibrant garden. We started to see cracks appear in the floor of the garage and water would leak in from the foundation's edge. We soon realized that this unknown tree wasn't really a tree at all, it was a weed. I'm not the quickest when it come to some home improvement projects but I knew this weed had to be stopped before it did further damage. We cut it down and covered the stump but the damage had been done. We still had cracks in the garage floor, the siding was dirty and damaged and the roof had felt the branches punishment in spring storms. Because I have no suitable transition...

I've awakened several times over the last few days in the middle of nightmares. It's been a while since I have had such disruptive dreams. While the setting and some content of the dreams have changed, there is an overarching theme that has remained the same. I come walking into a church or a bible classroom or, as in my dream last night, a Christian conference. I have an overwhelming sense of being alone. People all have their social groups they are laughing and talking in but eventually I find a place to sit. The person leading the class, conference or sermon calls on everyone to pull out their homework on the last doctrinal topic. They pull their work from nicely stacked folders and organizers while I, in a panic, dig through my bag and all of its disorder. I wasn't even aware of the assignment but I was hoping by some miracle, I would find something to turn in. It doesn't take long before the leaders of the meeting see that I haven't finished the required work and I am taken to an office in the back. The room is filled with older white men, all dressed in khaki's and sports coats. They all laugh with big belly laughs at a joke I must have missed until they notice me. The room grows quiet. I am reprimanded for not completing the required work, scolded for losing the assigned reading. I told them I wasn't aware of their request and I must have lost it. "You must have lost your brain" bellows the leader of the group. I woke up sweaty, depressed and a bit more cynical.

Here's the thing, I have been watching social media, the news reports and the local Christian bookstores and I just don't know how I have missed the American church losing its way. The Franklin Grahams of the evangelical world have found themselves in bed with the political Alt-right. They are blaming natural disasters on entire people groups. They are saying that the Christian call is one towards safety and that we shouldn't trust muslims or immigrants in general, not without some "extreme vetting process". While some in the evangelical world warn these leaders about the dangers of tying their beliefs so closely to the GOP, and yet, anxious heads have prevailed. Christian book stores have stopped selling theology books and have replaced them with Duck Dynasty paraphernalia and Bibles with American flags on the cover. I was looking through a Christian bookstore, one that thankfully still sells some theology books, when I overheard a conversation about how N.T. Wright is leading the church down a dangerous path. I mean, who doesn't love Tom Wright?! They declared that anyone who has some alternative atonement theory really is in danger of not even being considered in the faith anymore. It took everything in me not to tell them what's what. But, I realized it just isn't worth it anymore.

I have witnessed the church rush at stores on Sunday afternoons as people snatch and grab whatever food they can to make a suitable Sunday dinner. It's almost as if they are in some other world, some world that other people don't exist in. I have heard the stories from waitresses who have to work the Sunday church rush. People who just left worshipping God are sending plates back, belittling servers and then leaving ridiculously tiny tips. Social media is full of white, conservative, evangelical pastors who are aligning with a dangerous President at the expense of minority groups everywhere. Professors at Christian Colleges and Universities are being fired for sticking up for immigrants, minorities and people with different sexual orientations. This towering tree of white male evangelicalism is doing damage at an alarming rate. What we need to realize is that this tree isn't really a tree at all. It is a weed.

I've learned that a weed is really just a plant growing in an undesirable location. For instance, a tomato plant growing in the middle of your yard is a weed. The thing that made that tree in Waterford be considered a weed, besides being a bit ugly, was where it was growing. Much of the evangelical church in America is growing in such a way that it is doing damage to the foundation of Christ. Even though the numbers in the evangelical church are dwindling, their negative impact is being felt by many. The foundation of justice, kindness and mercy is being replaced with capitalism and nationalism. Roots have slithered beneath the Church's foundation and we are nearing the time for the building to be condemned. So I say, goodbye cruel church. I'm not leaving the Church but I think it is high time for a large portion of the evangelical church in America to die. There are some foundational cracks that can't be repaired, the building has to be demolished.

Good News of Good News

It's not all doom and gloom. There are some people who have been planted in very conservative churches that are doing some amazingly patient and powerful work there. As long as those churches are listening to the Spirit and making small changes in progressing towards a kingdom mindset, God will continue to be present there and with those people. I know of several churches where powerful women have remained even though their speaking and serving opportunities are limited and yet they are making such a hopeful impact in the process of opening the eyes of conservative male leadership to the Spirits affirming of women's pastoral giftings. In many churches, even though opinions are mixed as to where they should fall on LGBTIQ issues, there has been some discussion and at least an overall move towards love.

Even if a church should fail, not just like if it may fail but if it SHOULD fail, it doesn't mean that all of those people somehow fall out of faith and fellowship. In fact, most church growth is as a result of people switching churches. Let's just make sure the types of churches we are planting and leading, are the types of churches that are Kingdom centered. Let us make sure that we are equipped to welcome people in who have hurt and misled by bad church leadership. That may mean that church is large or small but it most certainly means that it will not be in bed with the political powers of this nation. It means it will not be corrupted by fame, security or a drive for financial gain.

If we believe the gospel, the same good news that saw Jesus taking on the form of a slave for the sake of creation, that good news that was proclaimed to the last and the least, the good news that saw the powers and principalities demand death, and the good news that saw a resurrection of power from the grave, we must believe that new life continues to come from dead and dying things. Thankfully, that even means the American church. Things that experience rebirth have a way of being better than we had hoped or imagined. I still have hope that we will more willingly let some things die so that we can take hold of a life that really is life.