We The Church

Letters to The Family: Scott

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Meet Scott. I haven’t seen this friend since 2007 and back then he was one very impressive middle school student. Scott was member of a student ministry for which I interned. Actually, his dad was my boss and the entire family is just so dear to me even though our paths intersected for only three short months. Recently, via the wonderful world of social media, I reconnected with this sweet family and discovered that Scott is a writer. The first time I read his words, I was floored. It’s an amazing thing to think back to middle school students you used to know and find that they have grown to be articulate, mature, godly young people. After you read this beautiful letter he has written to us (which happens to echo some earlier conversations), please go bookmark his site. I know you will continual be encouraged by his wisdom and ability to articulate the sweet, true things of life.
Scott
In his own words: Hey people! I’m Scott Shaver, and I’m a 21 year-old student at Texas A&M. Originally from Austin, I’ve grown up around the idea of adventuring – in life, with my feet, alongside my friends and family – and it’s been a joy the whole way through. I’m an awkward (but avid) dancer, a mountain hiker and a Fightin’ Texas Aggie who is trying hard, and often failing, to chase after Jesus. I hope these words are an encouragement, a challenge and a good time all wrapped up in a nice, 800 word package. Enjoy!
Friends, Church –

I think we were meant for a lot more than this. I think we were meant to be more than consumers shopping around for the best church-going experience.

I’ll start with myself. My three years in College Station at Texas A&M have been beautiful, the best three years of my life. I’ve experienced community in ways I couldn’t have dreamed of before. I’ve made friends that I will walk the path of the rest of my life with. I’ve made an impact on this campus, and this campus has absolutely made an impact on me. But I haven’t done church well. Not even a little bit.

I showed up in College Station three years ago on a Sunday, and, in one way or another, I’ve been looking for a church home ever since. I’ve hopped around from service to service, comparing worship and preaching, beliefs and the fantastically insignificant church-measuring metric of “vibe.” I’ve tried most of the churches in town, and though I’ve been consistently going to my current church for about a year now, I still wouldn’t call it my home.

I’ll never be able to call a church home if I’m only attending as a consumer. I’ll show up on Sundays, consume worship and teaching and maybe even a little community, and give absolutely nothing back. I try not to think too much about the way I do church. It makes me a little sick.

For so many of us (at least for college students), this method of churchgoing is standard. We show up, contribute nothing, and go home unsatisfied. But that’s not how the church was formed! Acts 2:44 says that, “all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had.” They didn’t meet once a week and consume. They worked together, lived together, ate meals together, enjoyed fellowship together. This original Church, the church so many claim as a model, was far from what we call church today.

So what can we do today to change this? What can we do to start being contributors and stop being consumers?
  1.  We can pick a church and stick with it. There is great wisdom in consistently sitting under the preaching of a pastor who knows where his congregation stands. This is a man who’s entire job consists of leading you spiritually. Hopefully, that means knowing you, living with you, and working to teach you in ways that you need to be taught. This is a good thing.
  2. We can serve The Church. Whether it’s working with homeless people on Sundays at Church Under the Bridge, stacking chairs after service or leading a Bible Study during the week, there is immense value in serving the church. It takes you out of the consumer mindset, and, more importantly, it provides the church with a very valuable resource: you.
  3. We can give generously to The Church. This may be the simplest, and at the same time the most difficult, method of overcoming consumerism. Consumerism, both inside and outside The Church, tells us to hold on to our money. It tells us there might be something we need it for down the road, like a new TV or house. Jesus tells us something different. “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” – 2 Corinthians 9:7. You’ve heard this before. I struggle with it mightily. Let’s work to get better at giving cheerfully.
  4. We can live in community with The Church. This is a big one. The latter portion of Acts 2 is all about community. Church isn’t a place you go on Sundays. It’s not even a place you go on Sundays and Wednesdays. The Church is the people who make up the body of Christ, and those people are called to live together in community. Sometimes that looks like sharing a meal together. Sometimes it looks like playing mini-golf on a Thursday afternoon. Sometimes it looks like praying desperately together, and sometimes it looks like serving selflessly together. The people you go to Church with should be the people you do life with. Doing life together is a big, broad term that basically captures the spirit of the first church. Acts is a great place to start for tangible examples of what “doing life together” looks like.
So, we’ve established that I attend church as a consumer. Many of us do. We’ve established that consumerism in the church can’t continue. Until we start working together as a church, living together as a church, loving this world together as a church, we won’t be The Church God called us to be. Friends, we were made for more than consumption – let’s go be more.

Only a Woman: This Place in History

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A week ago, I wrote about the questions I’m wading through as a woman. “See, this place in history, in MY history as well as in our collective history, is tearing at the soul of woman.”

And then, this week I read this post from Ann Voskamp:

 What the News isn’t telling You & Why We Can’t Afford to Pretend It’s Not Happening [Sozan’s Impossible Choice — and Our Very Possible One] | A Holy Experience.

My initial reaction was heartbreak. An ache -for these girls, these mothers- that cannot be bottled up in language.

And what followed was a deep frustration that we are, that I am, asking questions about if women should preach or lead or have ambition while across the world and down the street little girls are being ripped open.

But, the questions of a woman’s worth, a woman’s ambition, a woman’s place in leadership matter because those little girls matter.

See, what we believe for our sisters in America, must also be what we believe for the little girl in Iraq. If you believe that your sister, your daughter, your friend, should have an opportunity to live in the fullness of who she was made to be, to follow her dreams, to be honored for the wisdom and ideas and creativity she brings to the world, then that should spill over to the girls in Iraq and Haiti, and Kenya, and India who are being bought and sold.

And the opposite is true as well. If we don’t think it is worth fighting for the little girl in Iraq, if she isn’t valuable enough to move us to action, then we have made evident what we believe about the worth and the place of a woman. If a sweet 9-year-old can be treated like property and ripped open and sewn up over and over and we look away, then we cannot honestly say we think women have value and should be allowed to pursue dreams.

And even beyond the church, if as women we want to demand the freedom to love who we want, pursue the careers that we want, do what we choose with our bodies, but we won’t fight the same battles for our sisters who cannot fight for themselves, we are the most pitiful and useless of warriors.

I don’t agree with every battle women are fighting. I don’t agree with every choice every woman makes. I cannot definitively say I am certain of the right answers. But, I do believe that every woman is beautifully and intentionally created by God and as such has an intrinsic, immeasurable worth and we cannot sit silent while our daughters are suffering.

Letters to The Family: David

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Let me introduce you to David. I have only know David for a short time and from a distance but his faith has encouraged me from the beginning. I met David on a trip to visit dear friends in St. Louis. When my friend and I showed up by invitation to a small group, David, along with the rest of the group, was so kind and made us feel like we’d been friends for years. I learned of David’s ministry which, safe to say, isn’t contained to one thing but is the outpouring of his life in everything. I think you will be strengthened by his words to us today.

In his own words : A Missouri naDavidtive, David Peterka, founded the non-profit organization “When the Saints” in November 2010. David’s passion is to eradicate sexual exploitation from our world, and help teach churches the role they play. But more than that, his desire is to bring glory to the name of Jesus. Although David is in his late-20s, he has extensive “hands on” experience and has been an advocate for social injustice issues for over seven years. He loves soccer, playing the guitar, traveling and watching documentaries or movies with a strong female lead.

To the irresistible bride of Jesus,

Sometimes I wonder, “Am I missing something?”. Most of the time I live a Christianity that is relatively easy. Church, pray, Bible, be nice… You know, the usual. I do these things most people, whether they are Christian or not, find respectable.

“Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”

-2 Timothy 3:12

Wait a minute, persecution? When was the last time I was persecuted because of my Christianity? Umm, well…. This is actually the opposite of what I experience most of the time as a result of my “godly life in Christ Jesus”.  What am I missing? Did I make Christianity something that it was never intended to be? Sugar coated, watered down, dressed up? Have I disguised what it means to be Christ-like?

Back in the day most of the leaders in church hated Jesus. Do you know one of their most common critiques? “He is a friend to sinners.”

Have you ever spent a significant amount of time sharing your life with an alcoholic? If a girl were given money for sleeping around, would you ever ask her to hang out with you? If you knew that someone was using their position of power to steal money, would you see if you could mentor them? Jesus did.

When was the last time I befriended a “sinner”? Umm, well… Ouch. Now we’re getting somewhere, but I’m still not fully convinced this would cause me to be persecuted.

Jesus says that those who follow him will pray for and love their enemies by doing things like feed them when they are hungry. Now that seems incredibly difficult.

I work in a country called Malawi. Jesus has brought me to this place in order to show me and invite me into what He is doing to end sexual exploitation here. Desiring to help girls who have been systematically raped is the easy part. People show me a great deal of respect for this.

But, more recently the Spirit is showing us that if we only bring girls out of situations where they are being sexually abused, something else horrific happens. The same number of men want to abuse the same number of girls and, indirectly because of our work, more girls are trafficked to fill the void we created. Many people believe that these men should be “taken out back” and shot in the head. But Jesus says that those who follow Him will love the enemy. This is the part that isn’t so popular.

Last year I walked into a room with men who had molested young girls. The last thing I wanted to do was love. Seven men attended that first class. By the end, four of them got on their knees and asked Jesus to give them a new heart. Sexual exploitation can be eliminated at its root and we don’t have to just treat the symptom.

Here’s the thing, I don’t believe that Jesus actually wants us to be successful when it comes to Christianity. If we feel like we are succeeding then maybe we missed it. I fail, often. All the while He demands things of me that are impossibly difficult.

I have no desire to do ministry that is easy. I have no desire to be a part of a ministry that is possible and powered by man. I want to wake up every single morning with this on my lips. “Jesus, I’m stepping into something that will cause me to fall flat on my face. If you don’t do something miraculous, I won’t be able to make it through today. I desperately need you.”

Walking into a room with pedophiles, I found myself saying those words. He demands the impossible of us with a hope that we realize our utter dependence on Him.

I want to challenge and invite you into a Christianity that is not easy. It will cause you to suffer and make people hate you. It will make little sense and you will look absolutely foolish. It will also be unimaginably incomparable to any other existence that you could ever know and makes the God of impossibilities and miracles known.