Wild Church

So the disciples went out, telling all they met to turn from their sins." Mark 6:12-13...."It's time to stop building and maintaining zoos. It's time for us to figure out what it means to be the Church in the wild." Francis Chan

The above quote from Francis Chan came after he discussed the similarities between the animated animals in the movie Madagascar, and the average modern day believer in the west. In the movie, a number of animals who've never known anything but life in a zoo, suddenly find themselves living in the wild jungle of Madagascar. They were born for such a place, but have been so "tamed" by the zoo that they have no idea of how to live in the wild that they were created for. He sees a clear parallel between those animated creatures and we who've been "attending church" for varying lengths of time. We've been tamed. Like the animals, we don't know how to live in the wild. Circumstances forced the animals to learn who they really were. Circumstances are forcing the church to do so as well.

This pandemic has forced a reality upon us that most have not been prepared for. Our many seminars and conferences have told us how to "do" what's needed in order to be a church in the 21st century. All of it though, was centered upon having a kind of "central" planning center that was the church building itself. As it has for generations, everything revolved around and flowed from the weekly "worship service." By the second week of March, that form was lost to us. No longer could any church produce the kind of ministries that attracted, and yes, impressed people. We could no longer "create" an atmosphere that touched people's emotions as much as their spirit. Most of the props that we've always depended upon were taken from us. We were left with......ourselves. Seemingly.

Someone said of the western church that "Jesus is being lost in the church that bears His name." That was never the intention, but somehow we became more dependent on our presentation of Him than we were on His presence in and through us. We wanted people to come because of what we were doing. Now, we're faced with the reality that we can't do almost anything that we'd been doing. And that may be the key that lets loose His Holy Spirit upon His Church.

We've been forced out of our "zoos," our buildings that we've grown so comfortable with. Yet we're still seeking to be a worshiping body of believers. We can't any longer put our energy into getting people to come to us. We're now forced to go to them, and we're having to be very innovative in order to do so. Besides the "virtual" worship services that many churches are now doing, we are also having to find new ways to reach people in desperate need of Him. Like the animals in the movie, we've been "dumped" into a jungle, but its a jungle we were created for. This is how the Church has always been meant to function. This is the body the Church was been meant to be. We've been forced to come to grips with the truth that the Church is not a building, it is His people. We've been saying that all along, but the truth is, some part of us has always believed that the church really was a building....and that it was ours, and we were in charge.

This pandemic will end. When it does, what happens with us? With you and me? Once the "cage doors" are opened, do we go back to our zoo? Or, do we go on living out what we're learning in this time? Do we go back to seeing "church" as what we go to each week, looking for some kind of, any kind of help after barely surviving that week? Or, do we come together as a vibrant body of believers, celebrating His Life in us, after spending a week actually being His presence and person to a world without Him? Questions to ponder.

I deeply miss the weekly coming together of His people, and look forward to its resuming. But when it does happen, I pray it is far more than we have ever realized it to be. In one of the regular Tuesday prayer times I attend, a good brother said, "We're helpless. We can only depend on Him." This will be one of the greatest truths to emerge from this time. We're not in control. We have never been in control. This is not our Church, it is His. It's His Body. He's the Head. He's our Lord. He's Almighty. There's a lyric in an old song that goes, "Let the Church be the Church." May it be that we in the west finally leave our "zoo" and be the Church He has raised up to be.

Blessings,
Pastor O