I left for Training Camp a little over two weeks ago. When I left, I was a different person than I am today. I went into camp a Southern Baptist and I left camp not wanting to be constrained to the rules and practices the way ANY Christian denomination requires. I left camp wanting to be free to worship however I want, I left wanting to do more than just believe in the power we are given through the holy spirit, and I left wanting to experience God in all the ways he has given us. I went to camp discontented with the box I (and my denomination) had put God in. I came home from camp desiring to live out the Word FULLY and not to wrap UP what I believe in a Southern Baptist box.
Camp was the hardest 11 days of my life. I cried more tears than I had in the past 5 years. I got more hugs than I’ve ever gotten. I’ve been supported, heard, lifted up, encouraged, and held by people I hardly knew. I learned more than I learned throughout my entire educational career.
I grew up in the church, I spent more time at church than I did at home during some parts of my life. But for the first time I learned how to hear God, how to pray (without a ridged set of rules), how to worship without music, how to minister to people without a card, picture, or book, and last but not least, how to LOVE and be in COMMUNITY the way Jesus was with his disciples.
I left camp on the 31st with a heart so full I thought it was going to burst. I also left camp with a heart broken for all the people in churches that we don’t teach this stuff to. I wish deeply that the Western Church (as a whole) would ignore cultural norms and embrace New Testament Community to the fullest. In this day and age we settle for small groups that meet biweekly or Sunday schools where we put on our church face. We settle for love at a distance because we are too scared to let people in. We trade deep truth for superficial encouragements. We are too scared to lean into each others lives and help them grow; we become content being stagnant in our faith, in personal growth, and in relationships. We have forgotten that we worship by eating together. We have overlooked Jesus saying the hard things and use that as an excuse to not say them. We choose not to serve along side each other. We have created a Church where being shallow is not only normal but expected.
We have traded authenticity for a quick fix marketing ploy to get people in the doors of the Church. We are creating a Church tailored to modernity instead of choosing to live drastically different.
Jesus didn’t attract anyone by fitting into the Jewish mold. Jesus didn’t change anyones lives by providing them a building, a service, or a program that made people feel comfortable.
He attracted people by being radically different. He changed his disciples by getting mixed up in their mess and leaning in when He needed to. He chanhed people’s lives by loving them. This is what the Church needs.
We need to forget about what people think. We need to get unabashedly real. We need to love anyway. We need to forget about the building because WE are the Church. And we need to welcome people in with open arms the way Jesus did it. We need to get out of the Holy Spirit’s way and let him move without barriers.
The way Jesus ministered is as applicable today as it was 2000 years ago.
