Is There Hope for America?

The past 4-5 years I have been reading about the work God is doing worldwide through simple and traditional church planting. There are encouraging stories and discouraging ones alike. One of the reasons we felt like God calling us to Mexico 2 years ago was the stories of what God was doing in Latin America and we wanted to be part of it. God had a different plan for us and we're grateful for the hard lessons learned and taught.

Now that we're back in the U.S. we have focused much of our thoughts, prayers and energy into what God is doing in the U.S. and what are we, the church, missing.

Recently I started reading, thanks to my local library, Kinnaman and Lyon's book called UnChristian. It is the summary of 3 years of research on what the rest of the world thinks of church and Christians.

Our research shows that many of those outside of Christianity, especially younger adults, have little trust in the Christian faith, and esteem for the lifestyle of Christ followers is quickly fading among outsiders. They admit their emotional and intellectual barriers go up when they are around Christians, and they reject Jesus because they feel rejected by Christians. p. 11

It has been humbling and heart breaking to read their thoughts and how we are missing the point of Jesus.

Today I was reading Guy Muse's blog The M Blog and again my heart is heavy by some of the stats and observations of what is happening in the U.S. church. Read What's Wrong With This Picture?

In hindsight I'm glad the Lord brought us home to relearn His grace, mercy and Gospel. And I'm thankful for the new vision and heart He has given us for His church here in the U.S. I know there are many arguments and discussions on what is and isn't church but after those interactions all I think about is how much people, outside any form of church, are missing when they don't experience the love, grace and mercy of God. The rest of the world is looking for something, something that isn't just about words, theology, right thinking or saying yes to Jesus. They want a life that is transformed, supernatural, powerful, dealing with the wrongs and hurts, they want real relationships, authenticity, care and love. What they are looking for is what Jesus offered in the Gospels, not just in words, but in life lived in community. They want to experience the Kingdom Come.

I don't have all the answers but I do know when I see something in me, my past leadership, and in other leadership when we have missed the point. I was also reading Sam Metcalf's blog Under the IceBerg today about how to kill a movement. Here are a few things that kill movements and I will add supernatural kingdom church growth:
1. Require education for the leadership
2. Demand conformity of methodology
3. Refuse to provide administrative help and let it suffocate under it’s own weight
4. Get spooked by supernatural phenomena outside your paradigm
5. Make no room for younger, less experienced leadership
6. Be obsessed by theological purity
7. Put the safety of the people involved as a higher priority than sacrifice
8. Centralize the funding
9. Punish out-of-the box thinking

I can relate to these. I have led this way and have experienced some of these from others. Read the whole thing at How to Kill a Movement. Maybe a new movement of the Spirit, Church, and Jesus Followers is birthing that will do the opposite; bring about Jesus' Kingdom.

Now that I have broken every blog rule and have posted way too many thoughts in one post I leave us with an action point. Pray and seek the God of the universe to help all of us see clearly on how He wants us to move here in America.
Categories: Church, Movements, Leadership, God, Prayer