"FINDING LIFE IN THE CHURCH"

 “FINDING LIFE IN THE CHURCH”

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the death of the church, and I got several powerful responses to my ramblings.  Some people were in grief; some people felt that the church’s becoming inclusive had not made much difference; some people felt that I was off the mark.  Whatever your response, I hope that you will continue to work to help us all re-form the church so that it resembles more what I think that God intends.  Here are some characteristics that seem important to me in reviving the church.

First, let us seek to put God at the center.  Caroline and I both grew up in churches that put white, male supremacy at the center.  This is not a value statement so much as it is a factual statement – women could not be ordained, and Black people were not allowed to attend or become members.  No one ever said that white supremacy was the center of the church, but that was the fact.  Both of our home churches changed their policies in the latter days, but by then it was too late – the word had gone forth.  Now, both of those churches are closed.  So, in our reformation, we must be clear-eyed and disciplined:  God must be at the center of the church, not any of the categories of the world.

Second, we must work to reunite spirituality and justice in the life of the church.  Too many churches – Black and white – seek to split them off from one another, emphasizing that all God cares about is spirituality, in getting us into heaven when we die.  White churches made this split because we wanted to be able to maintain slavery while calling ourselves Christians.  The genetics of this split have followed us down to modern times, where many churches do not think that it is right to mix politics and religion.  While that mixture is volatile, the authentic mixture is religion and justice.  And, speaking about justice often involves politics, or as Dr. Cornel West put it so well: “Justice is what love looks like in public.”  Or, to quote the real prophet, Jesus gave us the two main principles: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your strength, and all your soul.”  And “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”  He reminded us in the powerful parable of The Good Samaritan that our neighbor is not the one we choose, but the one whom God is sending us.  Let us open our hearts and our doors to them.

     I cannot overemphasize the necessity of welcoming everyone into our worship and community life.  When we were pastors at Oakhurst, we were astonished to hear how many people came through our doors because they felt unwelcomed at other churches.  In some ways, we built our membership from people whom other churches had rejected.  As one of my respondents noted from the previous blog on the death of the church, it may be too late for some churches – they may already be tarnished with the brush of exclusivity.  Yet, when we came to Oakhurst, there were 80 members on the rolls, with 40 or so in worship, and it was on life support.  We made it our mission and our business to make clear to the surrounding neighborhoods and indeed the entire metro Atlanta area that we welcomed everyone in the name of Jesus at Oakhurst.  When we retired, we had 400 members on the rolls and 200 in worship.

Once we get them through the doors, we must keep them coming back. Once the word went forth about what we were doing, we got many visitors in worship.  A lot did not come back, but some came back, and some stayed and enriched our life together as members.  We kept them coming back by taking several steps – dynamic worship, strong children’s programs, community ministry, and strong pastoral ministry.  Since we were seeking to be a multicultural church, we wove several kinds of music into our worship life, and we also adopted the Black church model of sharing concerns and joys in worship.  These two foci gave our worship a sense of the immediacy of God’s presence.

Caroline led our children’s programs and our community ministry, and they both became strong – when she retired, we had over 100 children in our church.  Our community ministry went into many places, and it helped to make the life of Oakhurst Presbyterian visible to everyone.  We became, as the Atlanta Journal Constitution put it, “one of the most intriguing congregations in the metro area.”

And, lastly and briefly, we must attract more men back to the church.  We must do this not by asking women to step back but rather by helping men to step up in a way that is affirming to themselves and to everyone else.  The most recent PCUSA statistics show that women comprise 59% of the church, and our experience in our 50+ years in the church demonstrated to us the importance of women in the church.  Yet, I’d also love to see more men get involved in the life of the church.  I’m not sure how to accomplish this, but I’m cogitating on it. I’d be glad to get any thoughts that you have on this.

The current form of the church is dying, but God’s church is not dying.  She will re-form the church as needed, and we are asked to keep our eyes and our hearts opened for Her leadership and movement, so that we can join the great parade of witnesses.