a church for the world

Let Go and Let God

By Kayla

By Kirsten This Missional Church class is probably the most convicting “sermon” series I have heard in years. If I am to be completely honest, my walk with Christ has been marked by several lapses into outright sinful living. Like many Christians, and if I am to guess correctly, mostly Christians in the West, I struggle to maintain a life of purity in the midst of a culture and church that doesn’t really value righteous living. There has been a disconnect in my mind between Jesus’ words “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48) and the reality of Paul’s words “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15). I used to believe that once people became Christians, perfection followed. Righteousness has always been to me some kind of trophy to be won and put on a shelf which I would dust off once a year, which is a mindset that has often left me frustrated. It wasn’t until today that something clicked. In class, I found out that righteousness can also be translated as justice. The reason why this is so profound is because justice goes beyond what Jesus can do only for me, but what His Spirit seeks to work out for all people. I have struggled for years to understand how to focus my attention outside of myself in order to love God and people better. What has been severely lacking is a deeper understanding of the gospel message, and of righteousness. Jesus’ gives a call to his disciples in Matthew 28: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” This message to serve all people, so they too can enjoy in the riches of God’s mercy and righteousness, is humbling and beautiful. It is far more exciting to know that God is working for more than just me.

Relationships Make the World Go ‘round

By Nathan

By Caitlin read more

Segregated Sundays

By Laura
According to the Pew Center research, only 7 percent of American churches are racially integrated. This fact to me is shocking. Most Christians I talk to agree that racial reconciliation is important, but then why is there still such segregation taking place within the body of Christ? Various attempts have been made in the Church to work towards this racial reconciliation by encouraging individuals to build interracial relationships. But this strategy has obviously not been successful, at least not so far. The main issue with this approach is its disregard for structural segregation which will not be resolved through individual efforts at reconciliation. It will take the Church as a whole, working together, to begin shifting the composition of American churches to reflect the diversity that is evident among God’s people.
Much of the segregation that takes place in churches is a result of residential separation that has been so institutionalized in our society. The fact that people of different races do not live in the same neighborhoods, ultimately means they will most likely not be attending the same schools, offices, or churches. In his book, American Apartheid, Douglas Massey explains that “deleterious neighborhood conditions are built into the structure of the black community. They occur because segregation concentrates poverty to build a set of mutually reinforcing and self-feeding spirals of decline into black neighborhoods.” The fact that Black Americans have higher poverty rates than White Americans should motivate the Church to see that something has to change.
I believe that the Church can be an instrument of racial reconciliation both on the individual and structural level by finding a way to bring integration, cooperation, and equality within the church itself. How can the Church expect to live into its missional identity when Sundays are considered by some to be the most segregated day of the week? A racially integrated church would break down many negative effects of racial segregation and allow resources to be shared and needs to be met that would not otherwise take place, demonstrating God’s missional heart. So what do you think? Is the church segregated because different races just prefer their own style of worship and preaching? Or is there a deeper issue that will take a Church following the example of Christ to address?

More Drastic, More Missional?

By Kenny As I said in my previous post, I am heading into my first year in fulltime youth ministry. There a couple of prospective churches that I may get a position at and a few other churches I have looked into – all of which are about the same demographic and all of which the position would be categorized as traditional church based ministries. Today in class we got to hear from five extraordinary people who are during incredible things in the Spokane area. Each of their ministries is doing something rather unique and would not likely be categorized under ‘traditional’. As each person shared their story I began to think more and more, “Is doing youth ministry in the contexts which I have sought out, enough?” I understand the importance of youth ministry in every demographic. I feel that youth in affluent areas need the same love and guidance of Christ as youth in poorer areas. The confliction I am feeling is that there are likely much less youth pastors/directors/leaders in areas of high poverty or inner-city areas than there are in the affluent areas. Therefore, there would seem to be a greater need for more youth leaders in the inner-city/poorer areas. I wonder then, am I being more missional if I seek out a potentially greater need in the realm of youth ministry? I feel that I do have a set of skills that make me capable, especially in inner-city youth ministry, to lead an affective program and I believe God could easily use me in those areas, but I worry about my ability to relate. I simply do not come from a background of poverty or inner-city life and I am concerned that if I cannot relate to the youth then my attempts at a speaking truth into their lives might fall upon deaf ears. Of course I could relate to the struggles of life to a degree – problems with relationships, doubts of faith and all the temptations that surround us, but I do not know what it is like to go without food for an extended period of time or how to deal with something like gang violence. I know my vocation is youth ministry. I know God is going to use me to love youth. I just am not sure in what exact context. I thought I did – but maybe I wasn’t thinking drastically enough. I see a need but I don’t know if that outweighs the needs of youth in a demographic that I more comfortable with and that I myself experienced growing up. Advice? KH