I’ve spent the last four years on a roller coaster—both emotionally and spiritually. It was not a fun ride, but it gave me the opportunity to see the subtle ways the church is being chipped away at in an effort to weaken Christian faith.
The “club mentality” of church has secured its place in the hearts of many Christ-followers. In my own prayer life, as I’ve sought to know myself more deeply and attempted to be real—functioning outside the accepted roles of pastoring—I realize I’ve gambled on the future of the Church when I knew better.
The Church will be triumphant—that decision was made long before I became a vocational minister.
Through my writing, God has solidified His ways in my heart, and I’ve been confronted with the ways I’ve compromised in pursuit of something “new.” But God’s “new thing” is actually a very old, ancient thing—one that works when followed with integrity.
This article is one of the best I’ve read on what we’ve become and what we’re facing.
I’ve made a commitment to stop betting on the Church and to accept that we’ve already won. It’s time to let the love, grace, and mercy of Jesus be enough. That—and that alone—will change us and turn our hearts toward “home.”
“Very few people (I hope) are betting on what praise songs they will sing at church this Sunday, or how many weeks the sermon series on Philippians will last, or how many infants will cry during the baby dedication. But that doesn’t mean we are safe from the casinofication around us. In fact, we are—all of us—in danger of having already accommodated to it.”
In Christ,
James