Upstream? Downstream? Or Just Across?
How should our journey with
Jesus be? Upstream? Downstream? Or just across?
In the book “The Jesus I Never
Knew” by Philip Yancey, he shared a true story which he heard from a
friend who worked with the homeless street people in Chicago, USA:
A prostitute came to me in wretched straits,
homeless, sick, unable to buy food for her two-year-old daughter.
Through sobs and tears, she told me
she had been renting out her daughter - two years old!
- to men interested in kinky sex.
She made more renting out her daughter for an hour
than she could earn on her own in a night.
She had to do it, she said, to support her own drug habit.
I could hardly bear hearing her sordid story.
For one thing, it made me legally liable --
I'm required to report cases of child abuse.
I had no idea what to say to this woman.
At last I asked if she had ever
thought of going to a church for help.
I will never forget the look of pure, naive shock
that crossed her face. "Church!" she cried.
"Why would I ever go there?
I was already feeling terrible about myself.
They'd just make me feel worse."
What struck us about this story
is that why women like this prostitute should flee away from Jesus
instead of running to Him. Jesus is still their refuge, strength and
hope! The problem is definitely not with Christ, the Shepherd of
love, but His followers named Christians! The church at large has
lost the touch, the love and the grace. While Jesus was on earth, He
ministered among the prostitutes and sinners, and they felt welcomed
and loved by the Lord. But what happened to His followers today?
Many prostitutes and sinners no longer feel welcome or wanted in the
church! What has happened?
What is the picture of a church
in the minds of the people in the world? A holier than thou bunch of
people? A group of religious people and hypocrites? The unchurched
people would think that the church is a place for holy people, and a
place one can only go and visit after their acts are cleaned up.
This misconception by the
unchurched is not totally biased or misrepresented. Many Christians,
having received the unconditional grace and love of God and
experiencing forgiveness and abundant life, fail to give
unconditional grace and love back to others, and very often, we
harbour unforgiveness and resentment towards the people of the
world, especially those who are homeless, prostitutes, gangsters and
drug addicts.
There are many Christian
ministries now serving among these peoples through soups kitchens,
homeless shelters, hospices, abused women and prison outreaches. But
the great majority of Christians, while celebrating our journeys
upstream to God, fails to reach out to those along the way. Most of
us will be like the priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good
Samaritan (Luke 10:27-37), busy with our religious activities and
schedules, will just pass wounded mankind by, failing to minister
the oil and wine, hospitality and bread! We neglect to love, and
show grace in a hurting and wounded world. When we receive true
grace from God, we must be gracious and give grace to others! Freely
we have received, freely we give!
I believe that a paradigm shift
is coming! This calls for a change in church structure and
definition! The current emphasis of the local congregations is to
attract people to come to the physical property of the church. If
sinners want to become Christians, they must clean up and be
involved in the church activities and to be a part of the life in
the church. This model began in the Roman Empire after Constantine’s
conversion. Christianity then became the official Roman religion.
Everything became legalized, institutionalized and structured inside
religious buildings! Since then, a Constantinian Church Model led
their congregations to place emphasis on what was happening in the
physical church buildings or services instead on the people.
Jesus said that He would build
His church, and we should feed His lambs and sheep! But we are now
trying to build buildings called churches, and leave the feeding of
the lambs and sheep back to the Good Shepherd! We become mechanized,
very impersonal, program and result-oriented. With high-tech, we
have become low-touch! Some church phone systems are automatic
electronic answering machines, with impressive and comprehensive
menus of questions and answers. Sometimes it is harder to get near a
pastor than the prime minister! Some church websites have more
programs and attractions than Disneyland!
As a result, congregations are
strong in religious services and structures inside the church
buildings but are weak in ministries outside the church buildings.
Jesus ministered among the people where they were – in fishing
villages, besides the seas, on the mountains, hills and valleys, in
the homes, and along the dusty roads. Jesus had no physical church
buildings whereby people came to hear Him speak! Jesus went to visit
them where they stayed or worked. He even ate and drank with them!
He washed their feet too, and
allowed them to wash His. His church is a community of
people, not a building! We are the living stones!
But now what? In order to join
Christianity, the unchurched must leave their cultures, and become
one of us in order to join our church. The church does not go to
them. The church does not visit the homeless, and even those in
hospitals! We have adopted the Constantinian Church Model This ‘come
to us’ concept is not biblical! We often say that Christianity is
unlike other religions. In other religions, people come to God but
in Christianity, God comes to man! But our words do not match our
actions! The church is still having the “come to me” mentality!
Jesus said, “Go into all the nations and make disciples!” But we
said, “Come into our church, listen to what we have to say and
participate in our programs!” Eventually, some unchurched come into
our congregations and become part of us. They adapt themselves, and
ultimately adopt our cultures and weekly activities. Our
missionaries doing church planting in foreign lands will also repeat
these standard procedures and plant Constantinian congregations in
those lands!
Today, there are a few
Christians who begin to see the Constantinian Model as flawed. They
see that the mission of Jesus is to seek the lost, ministering
outside the walls of religious institutions and buildings! This
paradigm shift calls for the church to leave the safe perimeters of
her church buildings, out of her comfort zones, and move into the
world where the lost and needy are! We will serve the unchurched
where they are! We must adapt to their languages and cultures rather
than asking those outside to learn English, and change their
cultures in order to find God. We must communicate Christ in words
and deeds of love.
Below is a testimony from Mark Peske, a missionary to
the Ojibwa:
“In previous years, I invited
people to church when I met them,
thinking in that way they will hear the gospel.
I began to see that I was giving the church an unfair advantage.
I was asking them to come to my turf, where I was the leader,
where I stand and speak while they sit and listen.
It was a lack of courage that led me to rely on
bringing them to a place where I was the boss,
and they were the servants.
What I had to learn to do was speak the gospel on their terms -
in their homes, in their boats - as a friend and as an equal.”
It may be safer to remain in our
congregations, hoping that the unchurched will come to us where we
are. Just take a look at the churches in Europe and USA. They care
about themselves, but lose their cutting edges! But the safest place
for the church is to be where Jesus is. Jesus is ministering outside
the walls of the church buildings! We should be there too!
A key element of success in
world evangelization is building relationships. Good relationships
account for more conversions than does all media, crusades, personal
witnessing and foreign missions put together. According to some
recent studies in a variety of countries and cultures, nearly 90% of
the unchurched come to Christ through the influence of their family
members or friends, especially so within a clan or house group. It
is, therefore, essential for local congregations to find ways to
harness the vast potential of healthy relationships outside the
churches. Many Christians today do not have close friends outside
their churches! Worse still, we also do not have good relationships
with God and one another! We must allow ourselves time and resources
to build healthy relationships with God, other Christians and also
the people where we live and work with!
Another key element is to esteem
others better than ourselves! No culture is more superior to any
other culture. Christians are not more superior than non-Christians!
The only thing we have is this: “God is our Father in heaven, and we
are His children!” It is this relationship that makes a great
difference! Missionaries must never view their own cultures as more
superior compared with those they are ministering. God does not show
favoritism to any culture. In every nation, culture or people group,
He accepts those who fear Him and do what is right.
For missionaries going across
air, land and sea, to reach other people groups, requires high costs
and efforts. Beyond the cultural differences and barriers we have to
cross, there are many other differences that lie within those
cultures we must come to term with, such as the culture of children,
the culture of the deaf and dumb, the culture of the addicts, the
culture of prostitutes and the culture of those stricken with AIDS.
Often we cannot start church services immediately! But we can begin
to shine for Jesus in those corners of darkness! We are called to be
the light of the world!
The first few things we can do
are simply to listen to the Lord, and listen to the cries of the
peoples there! What are their needs? What is the Spirit saying? We
are not there to do our own things, and start religious services! We
are there to minister healing to the peoples! And we should not
invade their cultures with all our own cultures! We must not want
them to talk, dress and act like us! We must allow God to make them
to become more like Jesus! The Holy Spirit will do the work! We just
do our part!
Another key element is
practicing pure and undefiled religion. What is this?
Pure and
undefiled religion before God and the Father is this:
to visit orphans and widows in their trouble,
and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27)
And this is what the gospel of
Jesus is all about!
"The Spirit of the LORD is
upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." (Luke 4:18-19)
Caring for the widows, the
orphans, the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, the blind, the
oppressed and the sick! This is the same gospel message of Christ
with divine power to heal and to save! But many of our churches have
become entertainment centres, caring for ourselves rather than
others!
For if you love those who
love you,
what reward have you?
Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brethren only,
what do you do more than others?
Do not even the tax collectors do so? (Matthew 5:46-47)
Agape love is lacking in our
midst as our love is offered with personal gain in mind and many
strings attached. The desperate and needy in our communities are
watching us! Our actions speak louder than our words! As we have
received freely, we must give freely with no strings attached!
Unconditional love and grace!
If the whole image of the sun
can be contained in a droplet of water, if the infinite God can make
Himself so small as to dwell inside our infinite hearts, if enormous
nuclear energy can be contained in a single atom, how come our
hearts cannot condescend so as to be able to contain the plight of
others?
Shall we swim upstream or
downstream? I guess the answer is neither. It’s to swim across and
reach out to our neighbours. How do we know that we love God? By
loving others!
If someone says, "I love God,"
and hates his brother, he is a liar;
for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen,
how can he love God whom he has not seen?
And this commandment we have from Him:
that he who loves God must love his brother also. (1 John
4:20-21)
Yes, we must reach out and touch
others in our homes and neighbourhoods! When we are successful, then
we are able to bring the gospel from our neighbourhoods to the
nations! Not up, not down but across!
But you shall receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;
and you shall be witnesses to Me
in Jerusalem, and in all Judea
and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
One more thing about the church. The
church is not a building, but the Body of Christ!
Now I rejoice
in what was suffered for you,
and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking
in regard to Christ's afflictions,
for the sake of His body,
which is the church. (Col 1:24)
However, a physical church building is necessary for
corporate worship and services. Just like Jerusalem is the place
where the Israelites go up to worship God, the church building is a
place for this same purpose. But the building is not the Body of
Christ. The Body of Christ, namely the church, is made of living
stones called the people of God!
For where two or three are gathered
together in My name,
I am there in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)
The woman said to Him,
"Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,
and you Jews say that
in Jerusalem is the place
where one ought to worship."
Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me,
the hour is coming
when you will neither on this mountain,
nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.
You worship what you do not know;
we know what we worship,
for salvation is of the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and now is,
when the true worshipers will worship
the Father in spirit and truth;
for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him
must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:19-24)
The more important thing is not the place, but the
people! Just take a look at the great cathedrals in Europe. Many
have become shopping malls, museums and restaurants. When we begin
to refocus on the people again, I believe the prostitutes and the
sinners will again feel welcomed and loved in the church, in the
Body of Christ, among the people of God, outside and inside the
walls of the church buildings!
Written on:
13 July 2007