This Saturday while I was doing my duty of attending our denominational conference meeting, I had the privilege of sitting with an amazing group of women during our lunch break and the conversation become one that had me laughing with joy, in tears of grief, and contemplating over and over in my head what is going on in our world today.
I was blessed to sit with a 15 year old, a 17 year old, and two women whom for my sake will not be revealing their age but are wise, and happen to lead the youth program at the girls church. We started our conversation because the younger of the girls was concerned with the ever growing violence she is witnessing in her community. They all were wondering how the church could help curb the violence that was going on amidst the young children in their community. As we talked through this one of the ladies asked, "What do I say to these kids, and young adults, who ask what can the church do for me, why should I come to the church?"
I'm sure many of you have heard these questions before, I'm sure many of you have asked yourself the same question. Well I think I finally have the answer. The church can remind us what it means to be in community with one another. What community looks like. That there is more important things in this world then "me". We live in a world were we are more concerned about ourselves then anyone or anything else. We live in a world where when, we want it, we want it now, and exactly how we want it.
Here's the catch though, and I hope you're listening. My ministry friends keep and open mind...
The catch is that we (as church leaders and ministry workers) have to stop worrying about butts in the pews, and numbers on a page. The catch is we have to stop worrying about growing the church. I know this is scary. I've worked in a church for 12 years. I know what I'm saying can scare many of you. But it is time for us to be more concerned about what is killing our communities, we have to be more concerned about what is happening to our kids in our communities to our adults who are allowing our young people in distress to slip through the cracks.
The church, ladies and gentlemen is not about physical growth!!!!!!!!!! It is not about putting butts in the seats!!!!!
The church, is about religious and spiritual growth, it is about bringing all of us into community with God and with Christ. And we are failing!
That is why the church is dying!!
We are more concerned about putting butts in the seats, then we are with fixing our broken communities.
Through out my life I've had experience with restorative justice, I'm currently learning more about it in a class I'm taking along with divine justice. I believe that divine justice has a lot to do with restorative justice. God wants us to be in community to restore and heal our communities.
On the backs of our 87th school shooting in a year in half we sit and wonder why are our kids killing each other. Our young white males are shooting up the schools, our young black males our killing each other in the streets. Our young females are bullying each other the extant that most have contemplated suicide and some have even taking their own lives. Our young females are getting pregnant or getting in relationships that are abusive and detrimental to their health. We sit and wonder what happened to our kids? Well we have forgotten about restoring our communities. We are so concerned with our selves and seeing whose church is bigger that we have forgotten how to be in community, and because of this we are loosing an entire generation of kids. Kids who are raising themselves and maybe if they are lucky with the help of a few courageous men and women who are trying to make a difference. But we all know that while they may help one or two they can't do it on their own.
The church as we know it is changing!! And thats ok! We as a church have to remember what Christ called us to do. Jesus didn't care about potluck dinners (though I'm sure he loved eating them), Jesus wasn't counting the crowd to see how much attendance had grown in the past 3 months. Jesus and his disciples were eating with prostitutes, tax collectors, and lepers. He tried to heal a very broken community.
Our community is very broken!!! It is time we remind people what the church can do for them, and that is remind them of the community they are trying desperately to have and they don't even know it.
