Inviting Us Back To What?
by Mark Tidsworth, Team Leader
During the Great Re-Evaluation, this season wherein people are reconsidering their relationships to most everything, church is included in the mix.
And I, along with so many others, don’t want to go back. The hand-wringing, the panic, the state of constant anxiety about metrics and money… all of this was in the church water before the pandemic. The pandemic simply injected steroids, escalating the fear. Doesn’t it just wear you out after a while? I’m with the Dones on this one…if that’s all church is about, I’m out.
As church leaders, we are immersed in the busyness of church as well as the business of church. If we stay there too long, we begin to believe running the church is what our faith is all about. We lose touch with the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price. Without a shift in perspective and experience we grow anxious, disappointed, discouraged, and resentful. The vibrant living faith that brought us into church withers, leaving us in a dry and dusty land. Our invitation to church participation becomes, “Come join us and help us boost our participation numbers while paying the bills…” an invitation to the body of Christ that Christ might not recognize.
So what are we inviting ourselves and others into? For those who’ve been out for a while, what are we inviting them back to?
Early in most every presentation I do these days, I find myself sharing this statement…”Living in the Way of Jesus is beautiful.” Yes, I’m partly preaching to the choir (myself), recognizing my deep need to cut through church anxiety and reconnect with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But I’m not alone. Each time I go there, heads nod and even a few “amens” can be heard.
When we can step out of our institutional concerns, reconnecting with the essence of our faith, we remember the Way of life to which Jesus calls. Forgiving, respecting, granting grace and mercy, sharing our resources, extending ourselves for a greater cause, loving others who don’t look like us or behave the way we believe they should… were we to live this way a small percentage more often than we currently do, this world would turn upside down. The seeds of cultural transformation, of the world tilting toward the better, of the kingdom of God, are right there in the Way of Jesus. When we go there, our hearts are strangely warmed, making us eager to partner with others pursuing this life worth living.
That’s what we are inviting people back to – the beautiful Way of Jesus. We don’t want to be museum staff, so focused on preserving the frame around the painting that we miss the wonder of the painting itself. We want to become artists ourselves, collaborating with God through the Way of Jesus, bringing the kingdom to earth as it is in heaven.
When we are at our best, that’s what our churches embody. This worn and fragile world, filled with pandemic-weary people, doesn’t have the bandwidth to wade through our church issues before finding Jesus. They (and we) are desperate for a compelling and hopeful way forward, for the beautiful Way of Jesus.
That’s what we are inviting all back to.