What about the Church?

I bet if you asked 100 people about what they think the problem with the world is and how to solve it, you would probably get dozens of answers. You might hear that the problem is corruption in governments and the solution is democracy. Or you might hear that there is not enough peace and unity and we all need to just try harder and be better people. You might even hear that the problem is being caught up in materialism and the answer is to be more spiritual and separated from the physical and worldly. And if you are a Christian, you will probably say that the problem is sin and the answer is Jesus.

It does not take long living overseas to see that the world needs help. But have you noticed that the idea of “helping others” has become trendy. Businesses are trying to be more socially responsible and “help” people. When someone asks a young person what they want to do, they will probably say, “I want to help people”. And while those are good things, I think the idea of helping people is used to so much that it has become a little vague.

As Christians we see a huge world that is broken and has so many needs. But how can we help? How can we truly change a world so big and with so many needs? As Christians we know we are supposed to share Jesus with the world, but how do we address all the other issues like poverty and sickness? And if we address some, how can we possibly address all of them? In answer to this, people have created organizations that address injustice or poverty or sickness. Some share the gospel. Others focus on physical needs. And many do a great job of alleviating some problems.

And while I agree with organizational help, I think there is a crucial piece missing. The problem is that it has become about what “we” have created. If one organization does not work well or we don’t agree with it, then maybe we will go to another organization. We have become so organizationally focused. In this mentality, there is a trap. We assume too often that we know what is best and how to do. It’s become all about “us” and our ideas and our systems and our western way of thinking. We want to be the superheroes far too often. But do we have all the answers? Are we even supposed to be the heroes? Eventually there is a point when we realize we don’t have all the answers. So why do we try to come and be the superhero? We say the world needs God, but then we go and try to do things our way and with our solutions and our methodology.

I have seen and heard of many organizations that set out to save the world. I admire their optimism and their enthusiasm. But I think there is a time to stop and think. What about what Jesus did and started and created? Isn’t He supposed to be the hero? Are we putting Him up on the pedestal or are we putting our organizations and ourselves on a pedestal? How would He balance sharing the gospel and serve hurting people today? What was the method Jesus would be using now to touch the lost and heal the sick?

So this is what I want to say. Somehow in our grandeur ideas of saving the word, we have greatly overlooked God’s greatest agent for change (which He implemented thousands of years ago, long before the first NGO) in the world: the local church! It’s always been God’s method for change, not money, not power, and not governments. IT’S THE LOCAL CHRUCH!

How have we forgot about His hands and feet! If Jesus is to be the hero, then certainly His feet will be the ones that reach the lost and His hands that touch the sick. As a Christian with a worldview founded in the Bible, I believe this crucial and most important piece. It is the local church that is the answer to the world’s problems. It is the answer to poverty and hunger and injustice and seeing the lost saved. And if the local church is not the method to which we reach the world, then we are not doing what is best. Why? Because the world needs Jesus and the church is His body. That is the message I have become convinced of more and more as I spend time overseas.

Now I am not saying that aid is bad or even organizations. But what I am saying is that if these organizations are not working through the local church, then we are not following the model that Jesus implemented. Let me emphasize I think the “local” church is the answer. It’s not the American church, or the Western church. The local church is the answer. When we think that our church is right and other churches are wrong, we have greatly limited God. No congregation is perfect. But… the model that Jesus set up was to use a church in a community to reach out to that community.

This is the key difference. We have to empower the local church around the world to be the change. Our role is not to invade churches or to spread our own culture to them. God created cultures to reflect Him in a unique way. Christianity supersedes culture and it penetrates and transforms culture. But His intention was never to create one culture through Christianity. God’s desire is to be loved and followed by people of every tongue, tribe and nation; to worship Him with their local tongue and through their own unique God-given way.

Everyone loves to quote Gandhi when he said, “be the change you want to see in the world”. Well I want to change that and say, “You, local church, be the change God wants in the world”. So if the local church is to be the change in this broken world, then our role as those who follow Jesus is this: to empower the local church to be that change. That is how we can help. I think if we begin to see “helping the world” through this lens, we will find our organizations supporting and empowering the local church instead of suppressing them. And most of all, Jesus will become the true hero in this great story of redemption.

Leaving for Kenya!

I woke up a few days ago with a strange kind of feeling. For the past few months I had spent so much time thinking about raising support to start this job with CARE for AIDS in Kenya, that I never sat down to process all changes and challenges that lie ahead of me.

For that moment when I lay on my bed, I thought about the depth of my decision to leave, and it hit in me an uncommon chord of fear. The worrying and fearful side of me began was thinking about all that I am giving up to move to another country: working in a different culture away from friends and family, missing out on the comforts of a “normal” American lifestyle, and starting over with many relationships. But as I began to spend time in the Word and praying, the peace of God reclaimed much of the fear that had swept over me. I realized at that point that stepping out in faith almost always comes with a mix fear and excitement.

I had been feeling the excitement for months. I was thinking about going to another country and exploring another part of the world rich in culture and tradition. And I get to be apart of seeing people come to know Jesus! What could be better? But it’s the fear I had not dealt with. The fear of change that tries to hold us back; to stop us from going to a place of complete dependence on God. This fear is a way that Satan tries to stop us from making progress in the kingdom of God.

The fear and anxiety of making a huge life change is not one that I had anticipated. But I am realizing a hard truth: following God never plateaus to a point where we feel comfortable about taking leaps of faith. Faith never gets easy. God is always calling us to a higher place of more faith and hence greater risk. There will always be the fear of the unknown, fear of something we cannot control. In this instance it was also a fear of being ready to go to another country and learn a language and meet new people, make new friends and find a church. On top of that, there is the fear of unworthiness. I feel so unworthy and prepared to represent Jesus. Who am I to go? I am a sinner like everyone else. I am broken and weak and tainted by sin. Then again, that is the point. We are all unworthy sinners humbly telling other unworthy sinners that Jesus is our only hope.

We must not let fear overwhelm us and stop us. We have to push through fear in faith. Take skydiving (which I recently did) as an analogy. Most people would say that skydiving is mixed with both great fear and excitement. And everyone who has done it will most likely tell you it was one of the most incredible and exciting experiences of their life. But it did come without a little fear. It usually precludes events of great excitement and faith. It can be expected. What matters is our reaction to that fear. If we back away, we have fallen prey to our emotions and perhaps missed out on a great opportunity. But…if we continue on in faith, chances are we will never regret taking that leap.

So my conclusion is this. If fear is of the unknown and lack of control in a situation, then logically fear will come before any opportunity to trust in God. Because leaps of faith, by definition, put us in a place where we are less in control and God is in the driver seat. But we must not give into the fear and stop there. We must move forward in faith. Then we will see that situations that bring fear are in fact opportunities trust and glorify God more. They are opportunities to draw nearer to Jesus and be more like Him. When I finally thought about it like that, I realized that I could not possibly pass that up!