Some Christians suffer actual persecution. Most Americans welcomed the news last year that an “Arab Spring” was sweeping through the Middle East. The governments of Tunisia, Libya and Egypt were overthrown. Governmental changes, some of them major, were affected in Morocco, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, Oman and Kuwait due to social upheavals. Major protests occurred in Iran and Algeria. Even Saudi Arabia, that bastion of Islamic conservatism, experienced unrest leading to promises from 87-year-old King Abdulla that women could vote and run for office in local elections starting in 2015. They won’t be able to drive to the polling places, of course, but, hey, gender equality takes time. Even in our country.
Jim White
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While social progress is encouraging, the effect on Christians in these places has most often led to greater hardship. Already a tiny minority in the region of Christ’s birth and ministry, Christians are being driven from their homes by social ostracism, by economic deprivation and at times by outright violence. See page 8 in this issue for more information. Read particularly the account of Hanna Massad’s return to the Gaza Baptist Church where he is pastor, and feel the pressure under which these beloved brothers and sisters live.
In India, too, and Indonesia, and Iraq and Afghanistan Christians have suffered economically, socially and even bodily simply because they dared to be followers of Jesus.
Meanwhile, American churches debate whether to serve lattes or simply Folgers. I know this is not true of all churches. In fact, most are not engaged in the great coffee conflict. But many do spend a lot of energy finding new ways to be more appealing than the church next door.
I understand that in all parts of the world the church exists and ministers within a cultural context. This was true in Corinth and Rome in the first century, and it is true for Richmond and Raleigh in our own. The local church has to be aware of the needs of the people who live and work around it. I get that.
I applaud innovative church ministries that meet real and perceived needs of their communities. This is as it should be.
But too often in American Christianity a subtle shift occurs. Rather than meet the needs of broken humanity, we focus on how we can get bigger and become more attractive. Other churches are viewed as competitors rather than partners. We play a costly game of keeping up with the Joneses’ Church.
Some church leaders have become entirely too concerned with the staffing, facilities and finances required to offer the amenities church attenders have come to expect from their places of worship and with marketing themselves appealingly. I remember a cartoon that appeared in an old issue of Leadership magazine advertising a church as the “home of the 8 percent tithe!” Beat the competition. Be appealing — even if those appeals are made to self-centered values that are in opposition to the self-sacrifice of authentic discipleship.
Again, I’m all for making worship an enriching experience. I even count padded pews in that category. I might as well because a church without them would be unusual in our times. But at some point the capitalism of the church needs to be checked. As long as we view other houses of worship as free-market competitors we will continue to ignore fundamental tenants of the gospel.
In Matthew 25, Jesus refers to two groups of people. Neither group has understood that the Lord identifies with those around them who are suffering. One of these groups has provided for the needs of the suffering and is surprised to learn that they have, in doing so, provided for the Master. In contrast, the other group has withheld provision from the suffering ones and is equally surprised to discover that they have neglected him.
But there are surely two other groups. Both groups recognize that Jesus is in (at least identifies with) the sufferings of others. As a consequence, one group sacrifices its own material comfort and ease to see the sufferings of those others eased. The other group, knowing this truth, chooses to ignore the sufferings and needs of others even though Jesus is present in them.
Jesus said those who did not know that they were neglecting him would be harshly judged because of their unconcern for others. How much more severe will be the judgment of those who know that by ignoring others’ pain we choose to be unconcerned about Jesus, himself?
This is the heart of the matter. Some churches and even, astonishingly, some pastors care more about themselves than they care about Christ. They are building kingdoms of this world. No wonder churches in other nations are now sending missionaries to the United States.
Perhaps what we need is real persecution. I’m not talking about the silly “I didn’t get my way” attitude that sometimes passes for persecution. I’m talking threats against our persons and confiscation of our property. Perhaps only the refiner’s fire of persecution will drive away those who are in it for what they can get out of it and cause those adrift in complacency to get serious about discipleship.
If this is what we need, the good news is if we keep doing what we are doing now, we will probably get it.
One thing is certain. If American Christianity does not wake up to its own self-indulgence we will continue to see a slide into irrelevance. And the brothers and sisters in other parts of the world (and in our own communities) who desperately need encouragement, financial help and above all an authentic word of hope in Christ spoken with integrity, will continue to feel the neglect of our self-centered distractions.
Jim White ([email protected]) is editor of the Religious Herald.