The Church must stand its ground
I RECENTLY read the following comment in this newspaper in response to a call by the preacher at a national service for Christians to become more involved in community:
“Good luck because as far as I can see the churches remain silent and seemingly unaware of the problems facing our citizens. They do have the loud voices for the homosexuals, but crime, incest, murder, rapes, maiming of people mean little to them. I have lost faith in all churches because I feel that people behave like they are ever so pious on their days of worship and after services they become what I call demons again.”
I am deeply concerned about that scathing criticism of the Church because it is questioning the very core of why we exist. We are being accused of unfaithfulness to the mission of God, and not living as authentic disciples of Jesus Christ.
DESTRUCTIVE ACTIONS AND VICES
The view of some people is that the Church is silent, unaware, has a few pet peeves, but ignore the many destructive actions and vices in the society. We are accused of being hypocritical, saints on our days of worship and demons during the other days of the week.
The purpose of my response is twofold: First, to humbly acknowledge that to some extent the Church, through our own contradictions and compromise, have helped to fuel those negative perceptions. Second, to affirm and celebrate the many disciples of Jesus Christ in this nation who are deeply committed to the Gospel mandate of being salt and light in a corrupt and morally confused world.
The criticisms that are levied against the Church are often rooted in the high expectations many people have of Christians. The Church speaks strongly about justice, morality and love. Therefore, many are disappointed and disillusioned when they sense that those virtues are not being demonstrated, and sometimes the vices that the Church speaks strongly against are present in our gates.
SELF-SERVING MOTIVES
I also note that segments of the church have become internally focused and preoccupied with, and distracted by self-serving motives. We confess our failures and many within the community have started the journey to repentance. We are guided by the Word of God in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Repentance is not an event, it is a change of heart, direction and behaviour. When a church repents it rises from its knees with the courage and confidence to engage community and to seek greater unity with its brothers and sisters in the common gospel endeavour. It is when the Church not only proclaims, but practises righteousness and justice that real and lasting healing will take place in the nation.
The work of the Church is ongoing. Many churches operate schools, provide health and counselling services, engage in various charitable activities, and above all, preach the Gospel of repentance, salvation and hope.
I believe that in order to deepen its impact, the service that the Church offers needs to be more widespread, consistent and courageous. A serving church must be well informed and able to observe and discern the ills and the needs of the society and also a nation’s progress and strengths.
We must, therefore, inform ourselves of the realities around us. When the Church feels the pain and hurt of the community we will be moved to prayer and loving engagement. Proverbs 29: 7 says, “The righteous considers the cause of the poor, but the wicked does not understand such knowledge.”
We must demonstrate that we understand and care through our actions. We do so by listening to the stories about the oppressed, and also listen to the oppressed telling their own stories.
Having said all of the above I can declare with confident humility that there are pastors and church members in this country who are committed to practising biblical morality and who, through their prophetic voices and actions, are pushing back at the forces of evil and immorality in this country.
GREATER COURAGE AND WISDOM
The Church is not silent when it comes to speaking out against crime, violence, corruption in high and low places and injustice meted out to some of the most vulnerable in the society. I confess, however, that our voices are often locked away within our safe and soundproof walls. We need greater courage and wisdom to speak in the public spaces.
We also do not apologise for standing strong against the global attempts to promote lifestyles that are contrary to Christian values.
In many jurisdictions, biblical morality is no longer supported by the law. Within this context, the Church has to be courageous in its stance for biblical truth, and according to Flannery O’Connor, “Push as hard as the age that is pushing against us”. We, therefore, push back against homosexuality, abortion, incest, paedophilia and other destructive behaviours that are either promoted or condoned by new secular philosophies and lifestyles.
We will continue to stand knowing that “we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12 New Revised Standard Version).