Haggai 1:4-7 Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.”
On our college mission trip to Eleuthera in the Bahamas, I learned that the church there struggles with keeping young people connected to the church family in the very same way many UM churches struggle with absent younger generations here in South Carolina. A 29-year-old staff member of Bahamas Methodist Habitat said to me when I asked if he went to church, “No. Not regularly. Church has become like watered down kool aid, and you know everyone hates watered down kool aid.” I agree; who does like watered down kool aid, or Gatorade or lemon or any such beverage? It certainly doesn’t make you want to take another sip. Another person said to me, “It’s like the church started out with a great hamburger piled high with all the toppings, but over time we’ve parsed out the meat, the lettuce, the tomato, the cheese, so all we have is a bun with no substance between. When we bite, it’s empty; it’s all fluff.” I agree; you can’t call a bun a hamburger because without the meat (or blackbean burgers as I eat), or lettuce, tomato, cheese, onions, ketchup or mustard it’s not really a hamburger in the full understanding or expectation of what a hamburger is supposed to be. It’s merely simple carbs, or “fluff” that has no sustaining substance.
These sentiments were shared by many of the young Bahamian 20 somethings—though few gave such colorful illustrations. “Watered down kool aid” or the hamburger analogy might not be the illustrations I would use to describe the plight of churches today in relationship with younger generations, but they express a sentiment shared by too many people under the age of 30. Statistics prove these feelings are more than just the thoughts of a few. The Pew Research Center says 1 in 5 have absolutely no religious affiliation. Only 1 in 5 people under the age of 30 attend church regularly (and the poll’s “regularly” is once a month). 3 out of 5 people disconnect from the church after age 15. 47% of people don’t believe that God exists. Such statistics along with conversations I’ve had not only with Bahamian once-upon-a-time church goers under 30, but conversations I’ve had with people right here in Columbia worry me not only about the future of our church, but worry me that we are not doing a good job of being Christ to the world. Every time we celebrate communion, as my church did this past first Sunday of the month, don’t we say, “Make [the gifts of bread and wine] be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood,” or “By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world”? I’m reading The Daniel Fast by Susan Gregory, and she writes very early in the book, “As pressures of the present-day world increase, today’s followers of Jesus Christ are seeking a deeper, more meaningful relationship with their Lord. They want a faith that goes beyond Sundaymorning. They want their faith to make a difference in their families, their jobs, their everyday surroundings.” In other words, we’re called as people of God to be more than “Sunday Christians” or what John Wesley called “Almost Christians” and even “Honest Heathens.”
Our mission is not to merely get “butts in pews,” as a former leader in my own congregation once said to me. Our mission asGod’s holy church—Christ’s body—is to make disciples for the transformation of the world, or as Susan Gregory put it embodying a “faith that goes beyond Sunday.” The under 30 crowd doesn’t want to be a part of a church that merely wants them to be present to be merely a number in the pew. They want to be part of a church that is going to be relevant, that is going to challenge them to be a disciple, not only on Sunday, but an everyday disciple that strives—together with their church—to embody the Good News of Christ for a world that is in desperate need of such lifesaving Good News. The under 30 crowd wants to be a part of a people who come together to change the world, not merely serve themselves and their kind. Sunday doesn’t exist for Sunday’s sake alone; Sunday exists that we may be nurtured, strengthened and empowered to make Sunday every day.
God’s house is in need of rebuilding, and I’m not talking about the physical buildings in which we worship, fellowship, learn, eat and play. I’m reminded of that old hymn, “The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people. I am the church! You are the church! We are the church together! All who follow Jesus, all around the world, yes, we’re the church together!” The rebuilding starts in each of our hearts, remembering that we just might be the only scripture someone ever reads. As one of my favorite Michael Jackson song prophetically says, it starts “with the man [or woman] in the mirror.” We, church, must change our ways, if we want to make the world a better place, we need to take a look at ourselves and make a change. So honestly ask yourself: Does how you live God’s Word make people want to get to know Jesus more? We’re all works in progress that must face those places in our lives we are not reflecting the image of God. Rebuilding begins by committing ourselves to fully embody the beliefs we sing, read and hear on Sunday mornings in all we think, say and do the other six days of the week. Rebuilding might also mean sacrificing our comfort for the sake of another, burying old, bad habits, opening ourselves up to being held accountable by fellow brothers and sisters, spending more hours in prayer than on the internet or phone.
Mission trips are opportunities to be the literal hands, feet and voice of Christ in our world, but such opportunities are presented to us daily. We are always on a mission or in mission for God no matter if we’re on Eleuthera or at home, at work or in the grocery store. God gives us everyday opportunities to be his hands, feet and voice in a world that desires to see God’s presence outside of the church walls. Are you seizing those God-given moments to be Christ to the world? Such a commitment to be Christ in your everyday life could be the foundation of a stronger, more relevant church that not only talks about changing the world, but is in fact changing the world as we know it.
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