Recently, I’ve found myself trying to figure out what is wrong with Christianity. While there are small pockets of the Church that seem to be healthy, vibrant, and growing (especially overseas), overall the Christian Church seems to be losing ground. And as I’ve been trying to figure out this great problem, I’ve found myself coming back to one word…action!

While I’m not going to take the time to do a lot of in-depth research on this, it is my considered opinion that action is the main difference between healthy, vibrant, growing churches and sick, dull, dying chongregations. Where we see action, we find life. Where we see inactivity, we find death.

There are movements in the church trying to address this very issue. We are trying to revitalize dead churches. And, at the same time, in areas where we find the churches are beyond resurrection, we are attempting to plant churches. If the revitalization and planting processes are not surrounded by action, the churches will eventually fade away.

For some, death is a quick process. For others, it’s quite drawn out. The death of a church is too often linked to a failure to act. Churches forget the call to care for the sick, the needy, the wounded, the disenfranchised, the over-looked, the outcasts, the poor, the orphaned, the widowed, the least of these. We get caught up in self-care (what have you done for me lately) and forget that life is found in what we are able to give.

Many come to church and nod along in agreement with sermons that call us into action. But, by the end of lunch, we’ve already moved past the message and onto our selfish plans for the week.

So, is it the churches fault for not providing sufficient ministry opportunities? Potentially. Or does the problem lie with those of us receiving the word? We hear the call. We understand the call. But, we fail to act on the call.

Of course, action is about more than saving a dying church. Action is about bringing life and joy to our world! Action isn’t about church growth and financial gains. Action is about loving God and loving our neighbors in practical and tangible ways.

As the Church, we have to figure out how to move people from knowledge to action. We have to discover how to make sure that messages that stick are translated into our daily lives. Action is the tangible proof that we get it.

As I’ve been thinking about this, I’ve stumbled upon some phrases dealing with action. I’ll share a few with you.

Love needs to be proved by action. – Saint Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul

Once one has experienced LSD, existential revolution, fought the intellectual game-playing of the individual in society, of one’s identity, one realizes that action is the only reality; not only reality but morality as well. – Abbie Hoffman, Revolution for the Hell of It (you don’t have to do LSD to realize that action is essential)

Action is one of the most efficient instruments for bringing about the triumph of ideas among the masses. – Major Fidel Castro Ruiz, speech on August 10, 1967 (a somewhat unexpected source)

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing. – Albert Einstein (how many times do we pass up opportunities to do good?)

“Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, as long as ever you can”- John Wesley (some wise advice)

 

Today, our focus has been on doing our part to help eliminate poverty around the globe. We have heard some powerful stories. We have learned about some unique opportunities. We have been challenged to think about how our every day activities impact poverty around the world.

In all of my years of ministry, there has been one constant thing I have seen at any conference I have attended. That constant thing is some teary-eyed person coming forward…sharing a story about an encounter with a local homeless person…inviting people to take up an offering.

So, immediately following a moment like this (which I do believe was a sincere cry for help), one will view countless conference attendee’s going all over town trying to do something nice for the city’s homeless. And, I think that’s great…BUT…

But, what happens when we leave. Have we taken any steps to help eliminate this city’s poverty? Have we made attempts to alleviate hunger for one meal or for hundreds of thousands of meals?

And, is this just a one-time experience for the conference attendee’s? Do we simply chalk this up as doing our part to care for the homeless and hungry? Or will we return home and find ways to eliminate poverty on a daily basis? Will we regularly be involved in caring for the homeless, the hungry, the sick, the orphaned, the widowed, the over-looked, the oppressed?

That’s one of the things that used to drive me nuts about Youth Specialties conventions. We’d gather in large towns (Philly, Cincy, NashVegas, etc) and all these Bible college students (nothing against Bible college students) would run out on the street and make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the homeless. Again, I think that’s great. But, then, later you’d see those kids eating at all the cool and trendy restaurants (not that I have any thing against cool and trendy restaurants). And I would always wonder why they didn’t eat with the homeless? Why didn’t they invite the homeless person to come to the trendy restaurant with them? And, after the conference was over, the Bible college students would return home to their comfortable and safe environments. I’m sure some were impacted by the experience. But, how many walked away with nothing more than a story to share one day when they preach about giving to the poor?

My struggle with this isn’t in the good that is being done. It lies more in the motivation. Are we simply doing these good deeds because we know it’s the right thing to do? Or are we doing them because we know we are surrounded by a lot of important figures in our denomination?

Chris Seay once said that we can do some great things, but if we’re in it for the wrong reasons…it’s a sin. It’s a powerful statement. Our motivation is crucial. Do we attempt to relieve hunger and eliminate poverty because our hearts compel us or because it’s some kind of religious law?

My heart has been moved today. I’m not truly thinking about what I can do in Jacksonville. I’m thinking about what I can do when I return to Muncie. Our “mission house” at Center Chapel is going to be crucial in our area. But, our attempts to eliminate poverty cannot end with our food and clothing bank. Muncie will soon have another 800 families effected by job loss when Borg Warner closes its doors in the very near future (April, I beilieve). How will the church respond and reach out to these families? What can I do on a personal basis to help eliminate poverty in Muncie, Indiana and the word beyond?

So, back to this conference…As soon as a young woman stood in front of 1200+ people and talked about what she did last night, I was reminded of Jesus’ words from Matthew 6. He says,

“Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. 2 When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. 3 But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. 4 Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”(NLT)

What can you do to help eliminate poverty today?

Serving for several years in the former North Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church, racially diverse is not a way I would describe our denomination.

This week, I have been pleasantly surprised and encouraged by the racial diversity I have witnessed at this gathering.

Our Indiana delegation consists of 8 African-American and 2 Hispanic members. While that doesn’t sound like much, it seems almost mind-blowing. Our Annual Conference gatherings are so white. Having a racially diverse church leadership pool will help create more racial diversity in our local churches. That would be a welcome change.

Thankfully, the Indiana Conference is not the only delegation with a racially diverse make-up. Our general session gatherings are fairly diverse. We have a decent representation of a wide variety of racial groupings.

I needed to be reminded that the UMC isn’t just white and middle class. This gives me a glimpse of hope for our denomination!

I can do better???

This afternoon, I stood in a prayer circle with 30+ pastors, staff, and laity from the UMC. One can only imagine what happened when we were invited to pray whatever came to our hearts.

The prayer time started with a nice, short word of thanks. Then, the pastors started up. Each new prayer got longer, louder, and used more Christianese theological terms.

It was as if each person praying was using the time of prayer as an opportunity to give a short sermon. It truly felt like a competition.

Now, the truth of the matter is that I am extremely cynical. All of the prayers may have been totally authentic…genuine…from the heart. It’s probably my pour attitude…my pastoral pride and ego that stood in the way of fully engaging in this time of prayer and appreciating what was happening in the moment. Whether it’s my cynicism or not, some of the prayers were received as a show.

It felt like Matthew 6:5, 7, where Jesus instructs us…”When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I assure you, that is all the reward they will ever get…When you pray, don’t babble on an on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered only by repeating their words again and again.”

I felt led to pray a prayer of repentance…asking God to forgive us for trying to out do one another…to forgive us for attempting to draw attention to ourselves. But, then I realized that this would probably have been more offensive to the people in the circle than the babbling prayers were to me.

However, this does remind me to lead by example with my prayers. We don’t need long, drawn out prayers. We don’t need prayers with fancy words that only people with advanced studies in the theological arena understand (or simply pretend to understand). We need to simply be honest, straightforward, to the point, and speak from the heart.

I’m not saying that, for some, speaking from the heart won’t include long times of prayer of fancy language. What I am saying is that, too often, we church leaders tend to pray in such a manner that others feel intimidated to pray. You hear comments like, “Well, I can’t really pray like the pastor.” Then, you find out that some simply avoid prayer because they’ve never been taught about having a simple, open dialogue with God.

So, I believe we need to model simple prayers. When Jesus taught us to pray, it didn’t take 6 chapters. He didn’t model a 15-minute prayer with unfamiliar language. He broke it down to the bare necessities. Shouldn’t we follow His example?