Counter-Cultural

Jesus Christ was the most readical person who has ever walked on this earth. He came to change the world by changing people and societies from the inside out. He did that from the top down by getting people to respond, thus changing society from the bottom up. When He returned to heaven he left behind two very important agencies of His grace- The Holy Spirit, whom he called the paraclyte or the one who was called to be along side us, and He also left behind the church. Church is really not a great name for what is really His body on earth. His body on earth was intended to be a movement of people but, unfortunately it has become an institution. One of the reasons why so many people today have rejected the church is that it is little more than an institution- whose chief interest and ambition seems to be servicing the institution rather than developing the movement. The movement that Jesus wanted was one more concerned for the people outside the gate than those within the walls. The movemnent He wamted and still wants is one which is interested in feeding the hungry, helping to empower those who are impoverished or imprisoned. A movement of His people who see themselves serving their community by getting alongside people.

Because our churches have buildings to maintain and their own organisations to bolster up we end up giving inordinate amounts of time and money to maintaining the fabric of the church rather than reaching out to those who are in need. Look around and you will see churches which are far too big-some are too big because the community is much smaller than once was the case but others are too big because they view themselves as mega churches- they think that "big is best". Jesus, on the other hand never told us to build bigger churches, he never, for one minute suggested that we make ourselves stronger, quite the opposite in fact-He suggested that we invert the values of this society, he was a counter-culturalist.

Here are some questions for the counter-cultural church-

* Is the gospel bigger and more powerful than sectarian or racist attitudes?
* When is a church too big?
* Are we more concerned with our purity than we are in the welfare of the community?
* Do we love this community enough to actually live here?
* With the changes in our society where more money is coming into the city centre and people are wanting to return to live there, will many of us evangelicals feel the need to move back into the city from the suburbs?
* How are we going to demonstrate our love for the poor and the marginalised? Will we welcome even those we call anti-social?