To all who wander...

As I reflect on the day to day process of planting a "Youth Church" I find that I run into all kinds of confirmations of "adults" who themselves are pissed off and disillusioned by the Churchianty BS they encounter by "Religious Zealots  who seek to destroy anyone who resembles John the Baptist. 

 I realized that has been my struggle as a Christian all along... My lack of understanding of who I am. I have been the John the Baptist, the Strider (from Lord of the Rings), who wanders in the wilderness like some kind of freak, trying to find the way, the purpose the truth in the midst of all the shadowy figures who call themselves "clergy." I saw a quote the other day and looked up the context of the quote by J.R.R. Tolkien and was ascended into a place of vindication of sorts at my journey and my plight on this long road of wandering. 

"Not all who wander are lost."  

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.

(The poem appears twice in The Lord of the Rings' first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring. It appears first in Chapter Ten, "Strider," in Gandalf's letter to the hobbits in Bree, before they know that Strider (Aragorn) is the subject of the verse. It is repeated by Bilbo at the Council of Elrond. He whispers to Frodo that he wrote it many years before, when Aragorn first revealed who he was.)

It hit me like a ton of bricks... in my wandering I have been found. In my hiding, my roots have gone so deep that the cold shoulder of religious onlookers does not affect my growth. I have embraced the loud truth that I am a Wanderer, but I am for a purpose. I am not floundering or helpless or hopeless. I am being transfigured. In the ashes of what seemed to be nothing, God was stirring a fire inside that cannot be tamed; that cannot be shamed; that will not be easily snuffed out. In what seems like the end... is merely the beginning. I have been transformed. My eyes do not see what the religious church taught me to see. They see what Jesus sees; and it is not anywhere near the same. 

Today I was moved with anger and passion all at the same time when I heard stories of religion denying the basic rights of those who want to follow Jesus. Of shame and condemnation these people rule and my body convulses at the thought of it.

A friend of mine shared a "church" story with me today; her heart bare with the recent scar of condemnation, received by the abusive church leadership that resides in most churches today. What is worse is that her innocent, childlike, precious daughter took the brunt of the abuse of power in this corrupt place called "Children's Church." 

As she told me the story, I could feel the rage burn inside me. I wanted to make a whip and beat the crap out of this man who abused his authority with this sweet child who loves her Jesus. I wanted to lay hands on him and throw him out of the church with a fierceness that would scare the condemnation out of him. I wanted to flip the holier than thou table he sat at and make a ruckus! Instead, I listened intently at the hysterical childlike thing this sweet little girl did and burst out laughing at the imagery of it all.

While at church this little girl, at the prompting of her little brother, drew a mustache on a picture of the Pope, in a Catholic Bible. Oh my word... are you for real.... HIS..STER...ICAL!!!!! Hysterical! Now I am not an advocate of defacing a Bible or other people's property, but this is a child; and one who loves books and respects authority and does not have a history of destroying property. So, hello... funny. What was going through her head when she did that? Please little girl, tell me, cuz I want some of that!

The thought that a grown man would be so offended at a child pulling a "Saturday Night Live" move at church is beyond me. His offense became a sin against this little girl as he embarrassed and belittled her in front of her peers. He told her that she was acting like a baby and being disruptive and he could "NOT BELIEVE SHE DID SUCH A THING." Even after a sincere apology, this man decides that he is going to abuse his authority over this sweet child and shame her with condemnation. What is a child to do? Especially one who does respect authority and does not have a history of getting into trouble?

And if shaming her and her little brother was not enough, let's now go shame the mom for her lack of discipline and parenting skills to train this girl correctly. ARE YOU FOR REAL? Seriously? Whoa, whoa, whoa... lets back this train up a minute!

Let's break this down "Big Bird" style...

Jesus =Love

Love=covering sin

Covered sin= repentance

Repentance =change

Change=blamelessness

Blamelessness=holiness

Holiness=Jesus

Hmmm... I did not see condemnation in there, did you? Maybe a little guilt and shame? No didn't see that either... Oh now I get it.... No... really... I don't!!!!!!

If Jesus saw a little girl draw a mustache on the Pope, I will tell you this.... He would not bring shame and condemnation on her! If he did not shame a prostitute, adulterer or a drunk, why on earth would a "religious leader condemn a little girl for acting like a child. He told her she was acting like a baby. Which is so ridiculous! Last I checked the Bible said, " When I was a child, I talked like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me." 1 Corinthians 13:11 

Obviously this "religious leader" did not put his childish ways behind him, because he acted like a child by calling a little girl a baby. That is as childish as you can get. And the leaders in the church are wondering why people are falling away and not coming to church anymore. 

I picture Jesus laughing at the little girl’s rendition of the Pope and saying something like, "He looks great with a mustache, and perhaps we should encourage him to grow one." It’s a (explicit word) book!!!! Is that pile of paper really more valuable than the heart of this child? WAKE UP CHURCH!  What freaking planet are you on?!?!?!? 

"Growing churches make up only about 20 percent of all U.S. churches today. The rest have reached a plateau or are declining"  http://www.christianpost.com/news/total-us-churches-no-longer-in-decline-researchers-say-45150/#sSOvH8AkMw6rGZSg.99 

The old way is passing away and the new is coming. This hierarchical mindset of churches is rooted in the Priesthood of the Old Testament that was replaced when Jesus died on the cross and veil that separated the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom as a sign to all that God was accessible to anyonel who would come to Him; not just those who wore the proper garments and held the proper titles.  Churches that continue to function under the Old Testament way will soon fade away. In fact recent research shows that on average that 3500 churches closed their doors every year. 

The good news is people are starting to wake up and are seeing that the Old Testament Priesthood churches have got to go, and they are. As the church ages and people die, churches close, because there are no new young people to sustain them. In the last 2 years, the sleeping giant is beginning to wake and see that it is time to plant. Close to 4000 churches were planted to replace the 3500 that closed, but that does not keep up with the population growth. So even though 500 more churches are opening than closing in America, it is still not enough to keep up with the number of people in this country. 

"In a spiritual sense, America has become the dark continent. When we come face to face with our present reality, it would seem that only the coldest heart could remain complacent about the need to reach Americans." http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/200802/200802_096_ChurchPlanting.cfm

And it is no wonder, when the church leadership looks like the church leader mentioned earlier... A very consistent theme, I am afraid that has become an epidemic in this country. 

Mega churches are not the answer, either. They are a place, run like a business or worse, the government; who at best keep people in line, following the rules to be sure that there is a presence of religion in the community. There, people can hide and get lost. People scratch and claw their way to leadership positions, since there are not many, to fulfill a false sense of "calling". When in fact, true churches, evangelize, disciple, create leaders and send out to plant new churches; in unchurched areas. Here in America pastors build their own kingdoms on earth and have satellite campuses with video feed of themselves preaching. As if there is not enough leadership to go around. If there isn't, it is because the "Head Pastor" is spending too much time building his kingdom on earth and not enough time developing leaders and sending them out to plant more churches. Do pastors really believe that they are the only ones who know how to preach the gospel? I have heard that out of a pastors mouth, with my own ears, in my own community. People believe it. Believe that this false doctrine is true and so the lie perpetuates itself.

Lecrea, a Christian rapper puts it this way,

“Eric used to go to bible study as a kid
He got older and started doing what the hood did
A rival gang caught him slippin tried to take his life
But the gun jammed up so them beat him nice
He woke up in the hospital singing bible songs
Praise God he had a place to learn the bible from
But then he gets saved and wanna preach Christ they make him change his whole culture and way of life
He gotta get him a bachelors wear a suit and tie
Go to seminary
By then all of his boys will die
Jesus came to invade culture outta nazereth and used a couple fisherman who people saw as hazardous
The feet are beautiful if only they'd go
If ain't nobody in hood preaching how will they know?
Eric is better used taught trues in his context
Somebody please plant a church in his projects"

More false doctrine being preached… "You must go to seminary to preach the gospel, to plant a church, to lead people to Christ."

Even Paul, the great leader of the first century church, planted churches, discipled, created leaders and then abandoned them to the Holy Spirit. He trusted that the Spirit of God would impact the church and the leaders far better than even he could. 

I met a woman today at the little country grocery store by my house. Her daughter attends school with my daughter. They recently moved here to establish a better way of life for their family. She shared with me that she is a woman of faith and that her husband’s dad planted one of the churches in our little community. I listened intently as she shared her discontent for the American church. "I love Jesus," she said, "but I cannot stand the churches! They are so wrong in what they are doing. It doesn't look anything like Jesus." I asked her if she had a bad experience in church and she gave me the look of "duh...of course I did!"

She went on to tell me the classic story of church membership. Nowhere in the Bible, but everywhere in the American church. "The church I was attending denied me and my family the right to be baptized until we took a 6 week membership course.  I told the pastor, 'Are you serious?' I don't think Jesus would tell me I would have to be a member of His gang before He baptized me. If I want to profess my faith in Him publicly, I am sure He would do it right then and there.'" I chuckled at the thought of Jesus being in the room with this pastor and the look on His face when a family of 5 was denied the right to be baptized on the basis of church membership. Not faith in Jesus Christ, mind you, membership. 

I sighed, and told her that my husband and I would be more than happy to baptize her whole family in our pool ASAP. She laughed, and I could see in her face that she was trying to determine if I was serious. So I assured her I was. "I might take you up on that," she said.

I thought of Philip, who was moved by the Spirit to go out of Jerusalem to meet up with a man he never met. It was an Ethiopian eunuch, who was in charge of the Queen of Ethiopia’s treasury. He was reading the Scriptures and asked Peter about the prophecy in Isaiah. After Philip preached Jesus to him the Ethiopian says, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.” Acts 8:36-38

  

I must have missed the part that said, “and then the Ethiopian took a 6 week class on how to be a member of the Jerusalem church.” Or maybe it is just that it is not in there. He believed, Phillip baptized him, PERIOD!

We talked a while longer, I shared that vision God gave us to do a Youth Church and Mentoring Program to reach a lost generation. She wanted in; she wanted to be a part of it. I saw her light up. I know nothing of her spiritual walk or of her maturity, but I do know that she loves Jesus and wanted to follow Him. That has more value to me than any degree or title or experience. Love and Passion for the one who set her free. 

 So we continue to wander. Both my husband and me. We are not lost, we are discovering that in the wandering we are running into people who ARE lost. Wanderers who have no place to call home, nowhere to be a family. We see them and they trust us, because, like them, we are wanderers too. Only, now we know the purpose in wandering and have come o to embrace it.

Perhaps, our church planting will reflect that. A place for the lost to be found. A place for the wanderers to rest. A place for the misfits and forgotten to be loved. A place for the young to grow.  A place for the marginalized to be heard. A place for churched to be prepared to be sent out.

And so... we wander some more....with expectancy.