The title is a quote(or very close to the quote) I heard in Church History class that refers to the Body of Christ. Lately I have been very sad to see a lot of friends that I care very much about walk away from the Church and say that they don't need the Church or that they would rather not be around all the hypocrites. Some people I care about say that they can "figure things out" by themselves without getting mixed up in a church where they feel like they always have to be above a certain "perfection threshold" to be accepted.
This is absolute garbage. The whole reason the Church exists is to be a hospital for those of us who are hurt and confused and screwed up. In fact the reason why churches have so many issues is because the people in them like you and me are screwed up! Perfect people don't need church, and boy do I need to have my butt in there.
I saw a link to these videos that were made by a former pastor and the woman who it seems she is discipling. I believe this issue is absolutely crucial, and I've spent an awful lot of time cross-checking what was said on the videos and what was said in scripture, and I absolutely cannot be quiet about the issue. Please watch them if you possibly can and take a few minutes to read my response (which will probably not be posted on the website because it disagrees).
http://kathyescobar.com/2010/07/12/church-refugees-part-1-a-video-conversation/
http://kathyescobar.com/2010/07/19/church-refugees-part-2-life-outside-the-bubble-a-video-conversation/
http://networkedblogs.com/65Z9P
My response:
So I can relate to a lot of this. I was a young guy, very committed to serving my church, very responsible and enthusiastic. Well, a lot of people related a lot better with me than with the actual ministry leader and I was continually ostracized and penalized and burdened with extra rules. I was also placed on the outside in a way by my peers because I felt called to go to a 4-year college instead of the church's Bible school. On top of that a couple women who are very dear to my heart were sexually taken advantage of by men in the church who pretended to come alongside them and be their more mature christian friend. My father who is a very wise and very patient man has been pushed out of leadership because he dared to question one of the pastor's decisions, even though it was in a very respectful and resonable way. All that to say, I know what it's like to be an outcast, and I know what it's like to be hurt by a church that you've invested so much in.
That being said I'm alarmed at how as a christian counselor you're encouraging people who are feeling hurt and lost to throw away the fellowship, accountability, and discipleship that can really only be found in a church. I was very careful to watch the entirety of each video and understand the whole point of what you were trying to say. Why would the Apostle Paul spend his entire ministry building churches if that wasn't the way that God wanted us to interact with one another?
You make some good points, and that must have been a very horrible church if they were so concerned about getting more members and hiring growth consultants and being consumer driven. That is not a church at all. I would like to respectfully suggest that you are equating A church with THE Church, which could be a very wrong generalization. It is absolutely wrong when churches push away people on the "fringe". In Matthew 18:12 Jesus said He will leave the 99 healthy sheep to seek out the 1 lost sheep, and in Matthew 9:12,13 "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick... I did not come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance." I am currently part of a church (in fact related to several churches) that make it a point to welcome the confused, the broken, the alcoholic, the homosexual, and to love them to Christ and out of their sin and confusion in a non-condemnational way.
Now your church from the perspective you had was certainly not Biblical, and I'm sad to see some of the conclusions you've drawn from that.
In video 2 you refer to church as "The disease of consumerism." That was your church, not a Biblical church. You also said "Refugees have to belong somewhere." YES! In a Biblical church that believes it should act as Christ acted!
You talked about "resisting that tug back to Egypt." You should know as a church leader that whenever Egypt is used symbolically in the Bible it refers exclusively to worldliness. It is an unbiblical stretch to apply that to the body of Christ.
In this third video you talk about ways to "feel safe and grounded." I would like to put out there that especially in times where you are struggling and emotional because you've been hurt, feeling safe and grounded is not the same as being safe and grounded. Jeremiah 17:9 says that "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" The worst possible thing for someone who is hurt or new to the faith or ungrounded is to venture out away from the institution built by Jesus and His apostles to give us strength. 1 Peter 5:8 says "Be sober and vigilant, for your enemy the Devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he can devour." How do lions pick their prey? The weak ones who separate from the group. I'm just worried that people will watch these, hear you say to go out and make nonbelieving friends and not "be concerned about their soul", and "look at people with no Christian filter and no agenda." People are going to hell every day. If we follow Christ we need to be concerned all the time about the state of people's souls as God is. 2 Corinthians 6:14 "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?" Life is too short and uncertain to spend it confiding in people headed to hell without being passionate for their salvation and doing everything possible to point them to Christ, and I have seen it personally over and over and over again where someone in a rocky point in their walk with God starts giving more and more time to non believers who can do no benefit for them spiritually, and they ended up pulling further away from God than they were before.
It would be good to remember 1 Timothy 2:1-6. Here, where it talks about God's desire that all men be saved and come to a knowledge of Him, it talks about intercessory prayer. You say to just not try to get the right words out and to light a candle instead. DID JESUS CHRIST GIVE HIS LIFE AND TEAR THE VEIL SYMBOLICALLY SEPARATING US FROM GOD SO WE COULD "PRAY" TO GOD WITH A CANDLE?!? We are told by Jesus Himself exactly how to pray to the Father in Matthew 6, and Paul says "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." (Philippians 4:6)
We don't need a new way to seek God or a new way to pray like you say in this third video, we need to get back to what the Bible says about prayer and fellowship and discipleship.
Here is what the Bible says.
The church exists for accountability- Hebrews 13:17
Fellowship is not optional- 1 John 1:7, 1 Corinthians 12:21
We are to comfort one another- 1 Thessalonians 4:18
We are to build one another up (on the solid, unchanging foundation of scripture, not teaching each other to act on feeling sorry for ourselves) 1 Thessalonians 5:11
We are to confess our sins to each other and pray for each other- James 5:16
We need to minister to each other- 1 Peter 4:10
And "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another."- Hebrews 10:25
I believe with all my heart that by telling "church refugees" to walk away from the Body of Christ (you said you were a "Pastor" which is Latin for "shepherd"), instead of protecting the weak and injured of the flock, you are telling them to go ahead and leave the herd and play around in back where they have room to stretch out. All the while Satan is having a field day, because that's EXACTLY how a lion hunts (1 Peter 5:8).
I say this only out of concern for those people who have been hurt like I have. I have a huge heart for the outcasts and the people on the fringe who don't have ulterior motives, they just want to love God. The church is imperfect, yes, but how will these people be ministered to if you walk away? Isn't it better to change the wrong things? Especially as a leader! Saying that your messed up church (which you said you were a leader of) is synonymous with the Body of Christ, and that both should be shunned, is wrong. Even as you made this video people said "Why don't you start a group?" What would that group be? An extension of the Church! It would be another church just as full of sinful and imperfect people as the next. As the old saying goes "If you don't like church because there are so many hypocrites, you should come on by because there's always room for one more."
I am passionate only out of concern for people who are hurting, the same as you two ladies are. Please, if you have issue with what I said, really look at exactly what the issue is with it and see if it's not actually an issue with the Bible itself. I didn't do this in any way to attack you, but you made your public proclaimations that I feel further endanger already at-risk people, so I was compelled to reply in an equally public way.
The God of the Bible has never changed, and His Word never changes, and to say they do is to worship a false god.
Thank you, and may we all pray and seek God on His will for ministering to the people He loves so incredibly much.
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