I went straight from High School to University (majored in History and Political Science) and upon graduation I immediately went to Divinity School (Duke Divinity). In June of 2022 I retired after serving churches in Indiana. I served rural churches, county seat churches, urban and suburban churches. Much has changed during those years.
When I first started serving as a solo pastor at a church in 1984 (prior helping start a campus ministry and doing field education), the church was the center of the community. In many ways, it was the community. Sure there were sports (particularly High School), but the church took precedence Sunday was sacred, and in many communities so was Wednesday evenings. The schools did not have events happening on either of those days, but by 1990 or so, things began to change. First, Wednesday evening began to have school programming. That was not a significant deal, since my church did not have Wednesday evening services, but the Baptist churches in town tried to raise a stink, and to be honest, we all just sat on our hands and said nothing but: “Oh well.”
Before we knew it, bitty basketball and baseball practices were being scheduled on Sunday mornings. While most of the churches in town were not happy, by then the cat was out of the bag, and there was nothing we could do. As my girls grew, they often came to church in their soccer uniforms and left quickly to get to their Sunday morning games that were held throughout NW Indiana. I either missed their games, or hustled over after church was concluded and watched in my suit and tie.
While those changes were inconvenient, they pointed to a bigger transition that was taking place. The “church” was no longer central. Oh sure, we talked a good game, but incrementally the church (and the role of the clergy) became relegated to the sidelines. The sex abuse cases of the 80’s and beyond really accelerated this change. The institution, instead of dealing with its problem, shuffled the guilty clergy around where they often continued their behavior. In the local communities, clergy who were once revered were now looked at like lawyers or used car salesmen.
Instead of confronting those changes, some in the church decided that the best approach was to buy into the political climate and seek power. Thus we saw the rise of the “moral” majority and other such interest groups. I remember getting a packet sent to me every year around election time so that I could appropriately instruct my congregation on which candidates were the “correct” ones. Thus began the politicization of the church.
But what really changed was the recent rise of “using” the church to meet a political candidate's agenda which often did not align with the message of Jesus. Any pastor who spoke out against this agenda with the words of Jesus was seen as being political, while the other candidate just stood and smiled.
Today, many in the church have no longer any idea what the message of Jesus really is. Instead we are being told that putting ourselves and our families first is the ideal, and Jesus' message of putting ourselves third is lost in all the noise.
For me, Jesus' message is clearly defined by what Scot McNight, and many others call the “Jesus Creed”: “One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31
The second place I look is the Beatitudes (Matthew 5), a series of statements and blessings spoken by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount to encourage all Christians in how to live their life in practical and powerful ways. The last time I preached a series on this, I received comments from people complaining about my applying them to today’s situation (and it was not during an election cycle).
The truth is, we (as Christians) no longer want to walk the way of Jesus but would rather ascribe to statements of belief as if that is all that Jesus wants or expects of us. As long as I say YES to Jesus being Lord, then I think I have salvation and my life and how I live it doesn’t really matter. Saying YES is important, but one cannot say yes, and still not care for the least, the last and the lost; and really mean YES. If the Yes doesn’t change me (or at least begin the process of change — I think that is called being woke), I am not really following Jesus.
Until we once again embrace Jesus and his powerful message of transformation, not just of individuals but of society we will continue to see the marginalization of the church in our society and in the world. We must examine closely our motives and desires to see if they align with Jesus.
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