Stranger In This Land

The Church is loosing standards, and 75% of our Kids – is it Related?

Oct 8, 2009 responding

A few years ago I was at a baseball game with my wife and my friend Matt. We were at a Lancaster Barnstormers Game in Lancaster Pennsylvania. I love baseball, always have – shy of Disc Golf and Ultimate Frisbee it is the only sport I like. Sitting just two sets behind the dug out for the New Jersey team was tempting, too tempting for someone like me who can lack filter at times. The Team had ego, and they were playing rough – and the umpires were feeding into their hands. The first innings were already full of sloppy strikes and safes’ at first base that should have been called outs. Then we were up to bat again, and the pitcher delivers a missile like fastball into the clean up batters face. The Batter is down on the ground.  Then the next batter is up, he is hit too – our benches stand up and begin to come onto field, ‘Cylo’ the mascot stops dancing on the dugout; I am yelling at the Umpire “Throw him out, Throw him out”. However the umpire does nothing and the Jersey team continues to play dirty and more almost pegging pitches.

Our pitcher is up the umpires are calling good strikes low and away balls. I am yelling at the Umpire who is just a few feet to my right- I yell ‘get glasses or get out of the game’. The umpire isn’t improving or not listening, so I move to the empty front row right above the dugout. I am talking trash on this team; I want them to go back to “dirty jersey” as we say in the North East of the USA. I yell to the pitcher get him back! The next pitch, I don’t if it was coincidence or they heard me….their batter is hit and down. Both benches clear and both full teams are on the field. I am standing up in the front row leaning over the dugout as the Jersey team is charging the mound. I am yelling as loud as I can and a few rows behind me a City police officer is watching me to make sure I don’t get too ‘into’ the game like getting onto the field.

When the lines of outs, fouls and strike zones become “blurry” in a game – it’s hard to play the game the right way. All of a sudden you don’t know where the line is and you’re all over the place, anger mounts and dissension forms. The reason the fields have a white line on them, pre-defined strike zones and bases – is so we know what is fair, in and legal. Without that or with a bad umpire it’s just a confusing backyard game.

The same can be said most likely of the church and the way we do things in the church. A few generations ago my relatives in the Anabaptist Church movements were militant with their calls to excommunication and even a fewer generations ago puritans were burning people at the stake for crossing their lines. In the reformation people that thought we as Anabaptists crossed their lines burned us at stakes and drowned us in lakes. Luckily none of us are that extreme anymore, yet I don’t think we have found the correct balance yet to church discipline and discipleship. If we have found the right balance as many seeker friendly churches believe they have then why are 75% of our youth leaving the church and their faith? Is it that we are still too strict or that things have become too confusing? Well let’s consider this during the time church was more strict, though it suffered from legalism, people remained in the church through thick and thin – now churches are more open and so are the doors because people are leaving right through them.

Years ago churches ran it as you are either in or you’re out. There was for sure a strike zone where you either struck out or you were on base. Sure there were some churches that were a lot like a bad umpire – but there were standards. As I sat through a Church planting conference and read Church planting manuals the norm today seems to be more less of what line can you not cross, and more of a circle where as long as everyone is “Jesus Focused” everyone is headed the right way and everyone is “kingdom focused” then too. I don’t think this can be more far from the truth. I think this circle illustration has become as blurry as the lines we once laid out and were what decided if you were in or out. People may be focused inward towards Jesus but there they may be rotating around that circle and never getting closer. Even in these Jesus based gravitational pull circle illustration – there has to be some point the gravity stops and they are free falling.

The Church is so focused on mandating morality, calling out the faults of other religions, judging women who have had abortions and playing big brother with pointing out homosexuals in the world that we have lost our ability to take care of our own! Paul’s writings to Timothy remind us of what Guidelines the church leadership needs to follow. The Pastor needs to be able to control his children; if he can’t how will he lead God’s people? The same can be said about the Church, before we put our nose in the world’s business and try to fix all ‘their’ things – why don’t we try to fix our own churches first? Just because everyone is focused on Jesus, doesn’t been they are focused on doing what’s commanded.

We can fall into the trap of reading Matthew 7:1-5 all wrong. Judging in this matter is WRONG when you elevate yourself above someone else, when you look down on them, when you judge them mentally, spiritually, physically or such. This is to be left up for God. Matthew 7 does go on to tell you, you can ‘judge’ a tree by its fruit. Also 1 Cor 5:12 continues to tell us that we need to rid of the false prophets and lying teachers among us. We as the body of Christ are called to cut the dead branches off ourselves, and the dead branches that are our own are also the churches, as we help make up the Church. So yes, before you address the sin of others check yourself. Before you try to mandate morality or analyze how the world should be doing things – make sure the church is in order, maybe then we can find how we are too improve those on the inside of the church and love those into reconciliation on the outside of the church.

Let’s stop the 75% loss of our children in the church, and focus on standards again. Let us all remain focused on Jesus as the center of our circle, and lets gravitationally pull towards that point – but let’s set the standards the bible lays out on what is and what isn’t accepted. Sin is still sin and wrong is still wrong, lets focusing on getting ourselves right.

We cannot Judge the faith of others – that is the work of God, but we can judge the fruit and use the standards the Judge has already set for us in our future Church plants.

A bad Umpire makes the game lines blurry, it makes the fans confused – and causes division in the game.  Don’t make standards, follow the ones already set. Offer some reconstruction to your service to serve as a foundation. Don’t make calling sin a sin illegal in your church.  Also don’t make God’s ability to heal, strange and change a stranger in your congregation either.

Tags: 1 Cor 5:12, 1 Corinthians 5:12, 75% leaving the Church, Baseball, Church, Church Improvement, Excommunication, Fixing the Church, Focus, foundation, Fruit, Improving, Judgement, Judging, Kingdom Living, mandating, Matthew 7:1-5, morality, Sin, Standards, Trees