Where is the Church?

October 1, 2010 in Church, Living our Faith with 2 Appreciated Comments

I’m sure by now, many of you have seen the video put out by Ellen Degeneres about Bullying. (click the link to watch it if you haven’t seen it).

It’s a senseless tragedy to hear of young people committing suicide for any reason, let alone because people their same age bullied them, pushed them around and made their life feel like hell. It really is reasons like this that I give my life to work with youth, young adults and university students.

And while this video is incredibly heart breaking, it also pisses me off. Not just because of what happened (although that it true), but because it took a celebrity to bring this situation to the forefront of everyone’s mind, and not the church.

The church is supposed to exist for this very reason – bringing hope to the hopeless, love to the unloved, food to the hungry and protection to those who can’t protect themselves. Instead, most congregations are more concerned about how beautiful their building is, or how great their hour and a half service on Sunday morning is, or that their needs are being met, their children are entertained and that their lives aren’t upset by something ugly.

Not to mention that most churches would be leery about supporting a movement to help students in similar situations just because they are gay.

I imagine that pisses God off, too.

Maybe it’s time for us to stop being known for what people perceive we are against, and start being known for what we really are about. Maybe it’s time we stop shouting about what we are against, and start loving the way Christ called us to. Maybe it’s time for a wake up call.

I just hope we aren’t too late.

About Jason Vana: Jason is an imaginative leader with a heart to ignite younger generations to impact the world for Christ. He currently lives in Monmouth, Illinois, and oversees Ignite Student Ministries - a dynamic ministry to train and equip students and churches to reach their youth, young adults and university students for Christ. Find him on Twitter: @jasonvana

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  • Benjamin

    I will first admit that I am an agnostic. That being said, I gave up feeling ill toward anyone who feels moved by any faith for the reasons they are moved by it. I don’t consider them beneath me, less intelligent than me, or anything like that.

    That all being said, I would like to offer my two cents.

    The reason that the church is no longer bringing these issues to the attention of society (speaking here mainly in terms of American society) is that society is starting to deem it less and less necessary to have the church be the arbiter of society’s morality. While not going so far as to resent the church (though many sadly do), we are no longer turning to the church to tell us what is and what is not a moral issue.

    The color gray is becoming all-pervasive in questions of morality and/or ethics. The world seems as though it is an increasingly chaotic place with little to no real answers (I have always said that I am the model agnostic in that I absolutely believe that absolutely nothing is absolutely certain, and yes, that includes the statement I just made). Whereas the Bible seems to draw fairly clear lines on what to do and not to do when it comes to issues of the good or evil, the world doesn’t seem to operate along those lines. Countless special circumstances, endless contradictory impulses…there is little to convince those not of faith that there is any clear right or wrong, even in issues where the answers seem obvious.

    I certainly agree with you about the need for the church to be involved in these issues, Mister Vana. I don’t want anyone to kill themselves any more than you do. I have always appreciated the good and kind nature of Christians such as yourself who genuinely want to help. And any one of my fellow humanists worth their salt appreciates your loving hand reaching out to the world, regardless if we believe in the entity guiding it.

    Good evening. Your article was a refreshing read.

    • http://www.jasonvana.com Jason Vana

      Benjamin

      Thank you for your comment. It is refreshing to hear from someone not of the Christian faith who doesn’t look down on, or think someone of the faith is less intelligent. That definitely doesn’t happen a lot.

      I do agree with you that society doesn’t look to the church for issues of morality and ethics anymore, and that was not the point I was trying to make. My comments were more a wake up call to the church that instead of focusing and spending our money on putting up buildings and having services that, for 80% of the population in America aren’t even enticing) we should be focusing on helping solve issues like the one presented in Ellen’s video, which it seems we agree on. Whether society looks to the church or not for their morality meter, the church should be out there making a difference, as that is what it means for us to live out our faith.

      I appreciate your thoughts and comments on this post, and hope to hear from you some more!