I’m encouraged (part 2)

Here’s part 1

What does God want?  Think about it.  Not exactly easy to come up with something definite so quickly, is it?  It’s a pretty big and pretty scary question.

I think there’s a lot of things that God wants, but at least one thing is very clear if you read the narrative of scripture: God desperately wants to redeem people back to Himself.  But here’s the catch, especially if you’re Arminian like myself: even though God desires this, He doesn’t just snap His fingers and make it happen.  I believe God has given us the ability and the room to make decisions about Him.  Yes, he woos us through the Holy Spirit (and what a wooer the Spirit is), but, in the end, we make a decision about God and whether or not to accept His grace and forgiveness and be reconciled to Him.  It’s a beautiful thing (please don’t send me a comment disagreeing with me on this issue.  You’re not going to change my mind and I won’t change yours by responding.  Besides, I think it falls in the “non-essential” category).

So what does this have to do with the Church and my feelings about it?  Simply this: God’s plan for accomplishing His redemptive purposes is the Church.  Think about that for a second.  Much like the first question I asked, that can be scary.  A few months ago, I would cringe whenever I heard someone use the much-used Bill Hybels quote, “the Church is the hope of the world.”  When I heard someone say that, I would think, or sometimes say something like, “then the world is in a heap of trouble.”  If you want to know why I thought that then read part 1.

The cool thing is that I don’t think that anymore.  Yes, the American church is extremely dysfunctional and sick, but I think there is hope.  I have hope because I’ve been able to be exposed and involved with a group of Christ followers that is hitting the reset button on people’s undestanding of what church is.  It’s a group of people that think that what God wants is for every single person to have a repeated opportunity to see and hear the Gospel.  Why?  Because they believe that Jesus and the Gospel changes everything.  When I say they believe it, I mean that it’s not just on a piece of paper that says it’s a “core value” or “purpose”.  They believe it so much that they’re willing to change everything about how we do church.

It’s a group of people that believes that the most important thing each Christ-follower can do is passionately pursue God on their own and not be content for the pastor to broker their relationship with God for them.  They believe that in that pursuit of God, who, as I’ve already stated, is on a desperate redemption mission, they will discover that God intends for them to be on the same mission. 

It’s a group of people that believes that the church doesn’t exist primarily for the Church, but for the world.  If the Church is God’s plan for accomplishing His redemption plan, then that means we must be about people who are in need of redemption.

I could go on and on, but I won’t.  What I’m encouraged about is that, for the first time I can remember, I know and feel that I belong and have a place in the Church of Christ.  For a long time, I’ve felt like somewhat of a misfit, even though I couldn’t really explain why.  I think there was something in me that just couldn’t be completely comfortable in the church cultures I was serving in.  Now I know why.

If you want to know more about what I’m talking about you can check out our church and this.