Keep the Faith

If you’ve followed the Christian news at all recently, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Anne Rice’s declaration to stop following Christianity, while still being a follower of Christ. Anne is the best selling author of the Vampire Chronicles and recently wrote the book, Of Love and Evil. Ten years ago Anne made headlines in declaring her return to her Catholic heritage and moving from atheist to believer. Today you will find on Anne’s Facebook a posting that states, “Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out… In the name of Christ I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-science. In the name of Christ I quit Christianity and quit being Christian. Amen.” (posted July 28th)

The issues Anne talks about, which cause confusion, discomfort, even anger, are many of the issues we all deal with. I had a conversation with a young lady of my community several months ago where she said she was against organized religion – for many of the same reasons Anne has cited. We are no strangers to these controversies, are we? I have spoken with people in my community (some from my church) who have left the church because of arguments on homosexuality, or politics, or feminism (should a woman be allowed in the pulpit or be ordained as a pastor…). Some have left the church because someone said something to them to which they took great offense.

The truth is we find many things within the religious organization that are discomforting, off-setting, and seemingly at odds with the teachings of Jesus Christ. Gandhi once said that he has no problem with Jesus – in fact he is in agreement with the teachings of Jesus. His problem is with the Church. Our Church is fallible. Our Church is made up of people who are sinful and imperfect and often times at odds with one another. There are issues I struggle with in the Church. I’ve been a pastor for 6 years and involved in ministry for about 10 years. There are things I will probably always disagree with, struggle with, and try to understand (perhaps with success, perhaps not). Perhaps you’ve experienced this too?

Yet, this doesn’t negate the fact that we strive to follow the teachings of Jesus and to be the Christians Christ calls us to be. Our best chance of doing this is as a community – a Body of Christ. Don’t turn your back on Christianity because of the weak, fallible areas of our “organized religion”. As Adam Hamilton wrote in his recent Washington Post article in response to a man who said he was leaving the church, “Please, don't let this man define what it means to be a Christian. We desperately need to show the world that there is another way to be Christian!”

I would echo this. Please don’t leave the church. We need you to help lead us to be a better Church. Our issues cannot be resolved if we quit the game. Persevere. Hang tough. Help us to see the other side of the picture. And think about it this way. Perhaps there are some tensions that are not meant to be resolved (Andy Stanley’s words at the recent Willow Creek Leadership Summit). The tension is important for the health of the church.

Keep the faith and at times you’ll have to help us keep the faith too.

p.s. two great books to read to learn how those outside the Church view the Church:
UnChristian by David Kinnamen; They Like Jesus But Not the Church by Dan Kimball.