Why I Have Hope For The Church

I have heard several times over the years, speakers say something like "the church is one generation away from extinction". It is a statement surrounded by statistics about how many young people are leaving the church and how the numbers are declining etc. etc. The point of these talks are normally to get you to share your faith more and change your programming to reach younger people. Overall it's really depressing.

It may be that I am a pastor to a younger church or it may be something else but I am not real impressed or even motivated by these talks and its not because I don't love the church or care about the next generation because I do. It really comes from the fact that this type of thinking lacks faith and comes from pretty bad theology.

I have a lot of hope because I believe Jesus has a lot of hope. The church is the most brilliant organization in the world. I know it gets a lot of bad press and some of it is earned but in reality this so called boring, irrelevant, out of touch, too liberal, too conservative, too big, too small, too autonomous, too independent, too denominational, too seeker sensitive, too emergent, too charismatic, too reformed, too Armenian, too outwardly focused, too inwardly focused thing that we call the church has endured 2000 years. How many other organizations do you know that can say that, especially ones with so many problems? Somehow the church being only one generation away from extinction has endured for hundreds of generations. You would have thought it would have gone extinct during the dark ages with the plagues and all but I guess they did some sort of youth rally.

Here are just a few reasons I have hope.

1. We have a living self sacrificing leader who embodies the mission and has been with the company since the beginning.

Jesus is building the church; the gates of hell wont prevail. We are part of the only organization whose leader has died for the sins of its people, overcome death and currently reigns victorious in Heaven making sure that his vision for building his church is continually overseen night and day through his intercessory prayers. No other organization or even country in the world or in history can say that.

2. We have been given a profoundly life changing mission, to invite people to trust Jesus so they can be united with the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit and to participate in new creation life in the Kingdom of God for all eternity.

Whatever the cultural moment is, whatever epistemological shift is happening, whatever revolution of thought or industry, whatever the moral climate is, we have been given a timeless mission that people all over the world long for because they were created to be loved by God and to love Him in return. They were made for God and they are restless of soul as Augustine said. People may choose to live un-reconciled lives to God but we know that's not what they were made for. There is always a field somewhere that is white and ready for a Gospel harvest.

3. We have been invested with the Spirit of our Leader and given spiritual gifts to creatively join him in his mission.

It is one thing to come up with some values or a mission statement that people can memorize, but the church is actually baptized, sealed, and filled with the very Spirit of its Leader. This is mind bending hope. It means that every participant in the church is not simply given a mandate and a mission to obey and do, but instead is filled with the Holy Spirit and gifted by the same spirit to participate with God in the mission.

There is no end to the creative ways that God moves his people to serve the world and make disciples. That creativity isn't about innovation like a typical organization, instead it is about co-creating with the creator who is going about his work of new creation. That sounds pretty hopeful.

Everywhere I look I see this happening, Jesus is orchestrating by the Spirit, who moves through the church in people who are living courageous and generous lives and who are creating new expressions of mission all the time, and why do they do it? They do it because God is alive and at work in their hearts by HIS OWN SPIRIT! That gives me a lot of hope!

4. We have been given the freedom to be self-organizing servants who are internally motivated to change the world.

The absolute brilliance of being part of God's church is what I call decentralized centralization. That means the we are gifted, filled and sent out into all different parts of the world with a common mandate and mission. And yet all these little expressions of Jesus church come under one ultimate authority, which is Christ. In one sense totally decentralized which allows us to express the mission in a variety of structures, in real time situations with creativity and excellence. On the other hand it brings us all back together in a perfect unity under one head that is Christ.

I always hear complaints that there are too many denominations and types of churches and this somehow is a reason for rejecting Christ. I think that is ridiculous. Its like saying there are too many different types of people in the world so I don't believe in God. Huh?

It is the brilliance and complexity of God that can allow for such massive expressions of diversity and contextualization and yet bring it all together under one Lord, one faith and one baptism. Jesus is our CEO and he makes sure all the parts are working together for his purposes not our supposedly rational presuppositions. Knowing the Jesus is organizing all of this decentralized Gospel work gives me an incredible hope because I know he isn't wasting any of it, as he builds his church. That's the kind of organized religion and I am proud to be a part of.

All that to say, I am not sure why everyone wouldn't be super hopeful in Christ's church. Our hope is not in our ability to do it right or reach the next generation; our Hope is in our Leader, Savior and King who will be faithful to complete the good work he began in you, will make sure the His church is victorious over the gates of Hell, and will present his church to his Father as a beautiful pride without blemish. Be hopeful about the church, were in good hands.

 

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