Thousand Acre Church

This is part 2 of a list from Beyond Guilt: Christian Response to Suffering by George Johnson.  I’ve been reading this book as part of a class on social justice.  It is packed with short and powerful chapters.  This list stirred me a bit, mostly because I think its a fair (if harsh) assessment of the shortcomings of the evangelical church’s perspective on justice issues.  For Part 1, click here.  As I asked in Part 1 of this two part post, please excuse the antagonistic title.

 Here ya go (straight from the book in bold with any of my comments in italics):

1. NEGLECT OF ECONOMICS - The church needs to be aware of the origin and significance of wealth as it relates to faithful living, and what greed has done to relationships.  Another book I just read addresses this weakness.  Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity by Ron Sider was called “required reading” by John Ortberg (and everybody’s an Ortberg fan, right?)  Did you know that most candy bars cost more in America than most cocoa farmers make in a day?  That ain’t right!
2. NEGLECT OF CRITICAL THINKING - We have not encouraged questions that can lead to analysis, growth and change.  Oh, man.  That’s the truth.  Somehow we have turned the dynamic 1st century movement that questioned the status quo on behalf of the poor into a club of people who defend “traditional” values which, BTW, just happen to justify oppression and exploitation of the poorest among us.  Yipes!  No wonder church can be so boring…  Oh… the church seems to deal with challenging questions by labeling the challenger and throwing brothers under the bus…  i.e. “Silly liberals!”, “Reverse-racist!”, or my new favorite “Socialist!”  I knew I had arrived at a good place when my mother called me “a flaming liberal”.  We can’t marginalize these questions forever.  Eventually we are going to have to TALK.  We are going to have to HEAR the challenges and understand them.  We have to hang around one another long enough to learn from one another and that’s where growth occurs.
3. NEGLECT OF THE POOR - Jesus and all of scripture give far more attention to the poor than is given in current theological training and preaching.  Is it a problem that the dominant currents of theological teaching at seminaries flow from European reformers?  I think so.  I think that’s why “Black theology” is considered racist.  I think that’s why “Liberation theology” is considered heretical.  Grassroots theology is on the move!
4. NEGLECT OF RELEVANT WORSHIP - Lament and struggle needs to be balanced with the transcendent and praise.  Worship that is boring or mere performance is not true worship.  When is the last time your church sang the good ‘ol hymn “We’re Really F-ing Up the World, God Save Us”  Every week I go into worship, we sing yippee-skippy-Jesus-loves-me-woo-hoo songs.  Can’t we sing just ONE lament a season?  Can’t we just take a posture of repentance (instead of celebration) every once in a while?  Can’t we recognize pain and struggle in our worship together?  Amen?  I’m not talking about “Worm theology” where we just tell each other we’re worse than dirt.  I’m talking about a humble “Yeah, we need some help here.” attitude of pleading for God to act on behalf of the poor and the fatherless and the foreigner.  Some of that bad-time gospel music that acknowledges our limitations and asks God for some power to make things more right in the world.
5. NEGLECT OF DISCIPLESHIP TRAINING - Too much energy is given to maintenance of the institution rather than equipping laity for engaging the principalities and powers.  Anybody go to a church where faithfulness is measured by the amount of time you spend “serving” in the church building?  Hey CHURCH!  How about legitimizing service in the community… in the community’s social service programs… on the block in your neighborhood… getting messy with the heathens.

So whoomp.   Now… Its not cool to just pick on church.  I know there are all kinds of cool things going on out there in churches.  But, I thought this list was thought provoking.  Its at least a good place to start talking.  In coming posts I’ll try to be more “constructive” and less “deconstructive” when it comes to talking about justice and the Church.