One of the shows a grandparent can learn from with their grandchildren is Wild Kratts. The Kratt brothers explore for animal life around the planet and expose young learners to the amazing world in which we live. Their shows begin with them telling a little about the animal of the day, their habitat and characteristics, and then ask the question, what if we could become them and live in their world? What if?
I’ve been thinking a lot about “what if” as it applies to us as a church, and us as Christians. Especially as I have been reading through the Gospels, and the letters. What is coming as we read the culture is persecution in a form the American church has not experienced before. What if it was declared a hate crime to talk about certain issues from a Biblical viewpoint in a public setting? What if all tax incentives given for charitable giving or being a religious non-profit disappeared? What if it became a crime to declare that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation? What if?
Something would change. What if how we have viewed church was not really in keeping with the mission we have been given by Jesus? We think in terms of an inspiring speaker, a cool band, smooth programming, and an amazing facility. We tend to think in having a church that is large, well known in the community, and meeting the needs of people. All of this can be fine. But what if we used God’s assessment? What if the lens of Scripture was applied to church?
The number one thing Jesus prayed for in John 17 was the unity of the people in love. Such an overwhelming love that lost itself in Jesus and others. And the picture Jesus gave was that of a family. In a family, we love unconditionally. In a family we train the children. Not that we know everything that we are doing because when we brought Jalonna home from the hospital they did not give us an owners manual. But we loved that little girl and figured out what to do to care for her and train her (and later her brother) to love and serve Jesus and others. We got advice and sent them to school. But we took responsibility for them to be trained in the nurture and life of Jesus.
All this to say, that over the next months we are going to talk about what real church is; where we are headed as a church; and what supernatural visitations we will experience as we ask, “What if?”
Answered correctly and followed, we will be in a position to shift in an instant when any of these cultural changes take place. It will be as if we were the only Christian in our sphere of influence, in our town or in our neighborhood, we will know exactly what to do to keep the mission moving forward for Jesus’ sake.
