I Hate Church..?

I stumbled on this blog post this morning about how modern day Christians are failing those that need Christ the most by making church an exclusive club rather than what it is intended to be- the hands and feet of God, reaching out and pulling in those who are lost and needy and meeting their needs wherever possible. God's two greatest commandments to mankind are: 

(1) love the Lord your God with all your heart
(2) love others as yourself

Love God; Love others. 
Not: Love self; Love organised religion, religious rituals and those in your religious bubble.

I love God, but I hate religion (in the Pharisaical sense of the word). I love being part of a church here in the UK that is inclusive of anyone who walks through the doors and makes a point of catering for the needs of the community at whatever age and walk of life (check out Regeneration Church), but I have seen and experienced first hand many churches who do not.

Christian or not, do yourself a favour and read this post by Andrew Alleyne!

Blessings!

Ronell x

I Hate Church…

Posted on August 28, 2013 by andrewalleyne

If you’ve seen me preach in the last few months you might have noticed a bit of a change in my attire. Instead of a nice pair of jeans and a blazer you might have noticed my hat worn backwards coupled with earrings in my ears. What I’m about to share with you is the reason why.

My wife and I have made a habit of randomly showing love to strangers wherever we go. It could be a waiter/waitress at a restaurant we’re visiting or a homeless person on the street asking for money. We’re not always the most consistent with this, but we have quite a few stories we could share. One of these stories is about this time when we decided to go on an adventure downtown and we saw this beautiful young lady sitting on the ground asking for money. Immediately we were moved with compassion and decided to invite her to come with us to get something to eat and then proceeded to give her some money. While we were sitting down getting to know this amazing young lady it came out that we were Pastors and she went on to mention how there have been times when she’s walked into a church and people have simply stared at her because of her piercings, tattoos, and how she was dressed, ultimately making her not want to immerse herself in that kind of an environment.

Another time I had the incredible opportunity to share the gospel with 100+ bikers inside of a Walmart Parking-Lot. Closer to 80% made decisions to do life with Jesus, but then afterwards several of them came up to me and made statements like “I would never step foot inside of a church, but I would come to your church,” or “I’m not welcomed in churches,” etc. Keep in mind many of these guys and girls were saying they came from pretty hard backgrounds and if I can be stereotypical for a moment, they also looked like it.

Then I would hear outrageous statistics about abortion rates within the church and how studies have shown that abortion is highest where religion is highest… (insert screeching car sound effect here). Say what??? How does that happen? I thought church was supposed to be a safe place. I’d walk through downtown Toronto and see “Christians” on street corners yelling at people with signs in their hands telling them they’re going to hell. I’d even engage a few of them in conversations asking them how effective they’re evangelism attempts had been, often times they didn’t have much fruit to speak of. I’d get into conversations with young people in bars about me being a Christian and at first I was written off because of their previous experiences/encounters with people who profess Christ.

Fast forward a few months and my wife and I find ourselves deciding to visit some prominent churches in our city, as well as churches that we have preached at in the past. She would wear a mini-skirt, I would wear some baggy jeans with a hat put on backwards, with big diamond earrings in my ears, and we would pretend like we didn’t know much about how “church worked.” In almost every single church no one would say hi to us, people would simply stare at us, I had people in services tap me on my shoulder and tell me to take my hat off… Some of my Pastor friends didn’t even recognize it was me and were absolutely shocked when I revealed myself. All in all… most places left me not wanting to ever come back. I remember in one service I couldn’t even focus on the message because I was so infuriated as to how this one lady treated me. I wanted to tell her I’m an ordained minister and read off my rap sheet out of some misplaced sense of pride, but I managed to keep it together. Then I got it.

I began to understand why an entire generation can feel more loved and welcomed in a club than in a church. We preach revival, we talk about the harvest, but how many Christians are really stepping into the dark places of our city and shining their lights? How many Christians only have “Christian” friends, go to “Christian” events, and speak “Christianeze.” Are churches really ready for the day the prostitute walks into church after she just finished her night shift? Or when the back of the church smells like weed because broken people are coming in through the doors? Or the day when they can’t leave their purse on their seat during worship because that visitor might just steal their wallet? For the first time as a minister of the gospel I poorly attempted to put my feet in the shoes of “non-christians” and I confess… I would have probably written off church/organized religion if I wasn’t already a Christian.

I think Ghandi said it best, “I would have become a Christian until I met one.” The will of God is always displayed in Jesus but not always in his followers. We as Christians do a really good job of screwing that up. It’s as though church has become about good meetings and good music, and unless you look like, talk like, and act like me, then we cannot walk together, be seen together, or hang out. We’ve created this movement, this culture that is so anti the very world we are called to reach. We’ve demonized celebrities, stepped out of society, and we’re afraid to come close to “darkness.” Show me Jesus in that. Can you imagine if they had social media in Jesus’ day? Instagram, facebook, or twitter? Someone would have taken a picture of a prostitute washing Jesus’ feet and someone would have posted it online and it would be an absolute media frenzy. Jesus wasn’t afraid to touch that which was unclean, sit with sinners, or be their friends. By the way, I’m pretty sure he dressed like a modern Jew in his time.

Now… I don’t hate church, and not all churches in Toronto are like the churches I described in this blog. This is just a title to catch people’s attention. I love church. I find myself falling in love with this awesome church plant downtown called C3 Toronto. A church filled with broken people, who don’t have it all together, but genuinely love Jesus and are allowing him to transform their lives and the lives of those around them. I’ve realized that some of the sweetest worship doesn’t come from the most perfect people, but from some of the most broken people who need him the most. I’m not sure where the invisible wall we’ve created in churches that says “unless you act like us and dress like us, you don’t belong,” but it’s so far from anything I see in the life of Jesus. This blog isn’t an attempt to bash churches, or speak negatively of organized religion, but to some of my friends who are Pastors, I hope it’s more of a challenge. When we preach this message of unconditional love do we live it when people step through our doors? When was the last time we decided to go and hang out where the “Zacchaeus’” of our day hang out? Would we even go to their home if they invited us? This is why some of my modern day heroes are guys like Carl Lentz, the pastor of Hillsong Church in New York City, who we just had the privilege of visiting during our stay in New York. Thousands of misfits, x-gangsters, celebrities, hipsters, gather together for 7 services in rented out clubs right in the hub of the concrete jungle. He’s got alot of haters, but religious people always despise people who do things they are afraid to do. I’ve gotten emails from people and had conversations with individuals who think I’m crazy, are concerned with the way I dress, and I find myself feeling a bit more like Jesus, and to me they’re beginning to look alot more like Pharisees :s.

Something has to change in our city. Before revival comes to a city or region, God puts his finger first on the church. I hear people say “we’re waiting on God” but I believe God is waiting on the church. To all those who wouldn’t consider themselves Christians and are reading this post, on behalf of the church, I want to apologize for the way you’ve been treated. I hope that our actions don’t serve as a barrier that stop you from being able to receive the authentic and unconditional love of Jesus. You are loved, you are wanted, and you belong. To the Christians reading this post, take a look inwards and evaluate your life. Your city needs you to communicate and display the truth in love. If it is truth without love it isn’t the truth, and it isn’t the gospel.

Why Does God Allow Suffering?

This combination of two posts answers a key question that Christians are often asked to answer: Why Does God Allow Suffering? I thought I would share it and hopefully it will help you to have a slightly clearer answer! {HTB / Nicky Gumbel: Bible in a Year Daily Devotional – click to read the whole passage: part 1 / part 2}

A young New Yorker named Glenn Chambers had a lifelong dream to work for God, in Ecuador.  At the airport on the day of departure, he wanted to send a note to his mother but he didn’t have time to buy a card.  He noticed a piece of paper on the terminal floor and picked it up.  It turned out to be an advertisement with ‘Why?’ spread across it.  He scribbled his note around the word ‘Why?’ and put it in the post box.  That night his aeroplane exploded into the fourteen thousand foot Colombian peak El Tablazo.  When his mother received the note after the news of his death the question burned up at her from the page … ‘Why?’

Why does God allow such suffering?  We are constantly confronted by suffering.  It bewilders and outrages us.  It is the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith.  The amount of suffering and its distribution seem to be random and unfair.

Theologians and philosophers have wrestled for centuries with the mystery of undeserved suffering and no one has ever come up with a simple and complete solution.  Today and tomorrow’s passages are only part of the answer, but each of them gives us some insight.

In today’s passages we see that although suffering is never good in itself, God is able to use it for good in a number of ways.  God loves us.  Our suffering is also God’s suffering.  He suffers alongside of us.  Yet he does not simply remove suffering from our lives.  He often uses bad things to bring about his good purposes. 

1.  God uses suffering to transform us

Psalm 15:1-5

2.  God uses suffering to save us

Matthew 17:14-18:9

3.  God uses suffering for his good purposes

Genesis 49:1-50:26

4.  See the suffering of this life in the context of eternity

Psalm 16:1-11

5.  Understand the relationship between human freedom and suffering

Matthew 18:10-35

6.  Always respond to suffering with compassion

Job 1:1-3:26

The promise of the New Testament is that God will use everything that happens to us for good.  As we face trials, temptation, struggles and difficulty, the New Testament assures us that ‘in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose’ (Romans 8:28).

A one-year-old boy shattered his back falling down a flight of stairs.  He spent his childhood and youth in and out of hospital.  Gavin Read, the former Bishop of Maidstone, interviewed him in church.  The boy remarked, ‘God is fair.’  Gavin stopped him and asked, ‘How old are you?’  ‘Seventeen,’ the boy replied.  ‘How many years have you spent in hospital?’  The boy answered, ‘Thirteen years.’  He was asked, ‘Do you think that is fair?’  He replied, ‘God has got all of eternity to make it up to me.’

We live in a world of instant gratification which has almost entirely lost its eternal perspective.  The New Testament is full of wonderful promises about the future.  All creation will be restored.  Jesus will return to establish ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ (Revelation 21:1).  There will be no more crying, for there will be no more pain and suffering.  We will change our frail, decaying mortal bodies for a body like that of Jesus’ glorious resurrected body. 

Suffering is not part of God’s original created order (see Genesis 1–2).  There was no suffering in the world before rebellion against God.  There will be no suffering when God creates a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:3–4).  It is ‘an alien intrusion into God’s world’.

A great deal of suffering can be explained as being the result of the fact that we live in a fallen world: a world where all creation has been affected by not only the sin of human beings, but even before that, Satan’s sin.  The serpent existed before Adam and Eve sinned.  As a result of Adam and Eve’s sin, ‘thorns and thistles’ entered the world (Genesis 3:18).  Ever since that time ‘the creation was subjected to frustration’ (Romans 8:20).  ‘Natural’ disasters are a result of this disorder in creation. 

Satan was allowed to bring several major tragedies into the life of a man who was blameless and upright, who feared God and shunned evil (Job 1:1).  Job suffered loss in the areas of money, material possessions (1:13–17), family life (1:18–19), personal health (2:1–10) and even eventually the support of his friends.

When we face unexplained suffering it can be very easy to blame God.  Yet, although Job did not know why he was suffering, he responded by continuing to trust in God.  He resolved to trust and worship God in his suffering, just as he had in his good fortune (1:21,2:10).  The writer tells us admiringly, ‘In all this, Job did not sin in what he said’ (v.10b).  He remained faithful in the most difficult of circumstances.

This was not the end of Job’s story.  In the end, God restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.  Now we know that, through Jesus, God has all eternity to more than compensate for all our sufferings in this life.

Blessings!

Ronell x

21 Ways to get involved with the A21 Campaign (9/21): pray!

Human trafficking is nothing short of evil, but don’t underestimate the power of prayer.  Whether you opt to pray on the 21^st of every month, or the 21^st hour of every day, prayer is important!

As a Christian, I believe that prayer is not only important, but essential. Prayer is not only a way of petitioning God, but also is key to developing a relationship with Him. I am glad that the A21 Campaign suggested prayer as one of the 21 ways to help the campaign. To me it seems like an obvious response, but often it is the most obvious things that we fail to say/note. I realised that in most of my posts, I have not suggested or even mentioned prayer! I just want to emphasise that I believe wholeheartedly in the power of prayer and that my recommendation is daily prayer. When you read this blog, pray for the causes mentioned, and if you are able to give of yourself financially, please do so.

Below is a small selection of scriptures that give us a biblical perspective on the power of prayer:

Psalm 107:28-30 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven

Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

John 14:13-14 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it

Matthew 21:21-22 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

If you would like to obtain a prayer guide, please click here to download or contact the A21 Campaign to request a hard copy. For other resources from the A21 campaign, please click here.

Blessings!

Ronell x