Are We Being " The Church"?

As I travel back from a church planting conference, Im trying to process all the information I took in this week. Over and over I was reminded and convicted that for so long, the majority of American churches have just been existing as "a church" and not "the church". Is the church today really doing what Jesus did with the disciples? Are we really going and caring for the least of these? Are we really being Jesus' hands and feet in a world and culture that so desperately needs to know the love and mercy of Jesus? Or are we just being "a church" where people come on Sunday mornings just to do the "church thing", but never live out what the Bible says? Are we just trying to build our empire with programs, entertainment, extra money in the bank, and lots of people that fill a seat once a week just so we can say, " look at all our church is doing, look at all the people we had on Sunday"?
I pray that our motives are pure and that our heart is right. That we are being "the church" to our communities. That we are loving and caring for the lost and hurting in our cities. Not so they will come to our church, but because we want them to know the Lord. Jesus walked with, did life with, and made disciples out of 12 men and He calls us to do the same. Not to have a zillion programs and to make sure everyone is satisfied and entertained by the music or the pastor, but to truly get down in the mud with people.

I have to be honest and say that the season of life I'm in right now, I'm having a really hard time seeing big fancy church buildings, thousands of dollars spent on children's decorations, state of the art equipment, & staff salaries that are 3 times as large as the median income for their area, fancy cars, designer suits, all that has become very sickening to me. That's just the reality of where I'm at right now. Please don't get offended if you are a part of a church like that. Everyone has their own convictions. It is just so sad to me that as Christ followers, we have bought into the American dream of more stuff, more money,and bigger buildings equals success. It is hard for me to listen to churches brag about giving $15,000 to the poor, when they spent 3 million on a building or paying the mortgage. It just really hits me the wrong way. It is no accident that poverty and caring for the poor is mentioned in scripture more than 2,000 times. What are we as "the church" doing about it? Are we doing what Jesus said or are we just giving our pennies just so we can add to the list of things we support?

I guess the reason it has really been weighing on my heart heavy is because we just launched One Community Church 5 weeks ago and fundraising has been a vital part of being able to sustain our church. We have to have money, we have to have supporters and donors that believe in us and our vision. I just hate that money has to be involved. I tell the Lord often, "Lord, I just want to help people find their way to you, I just want to serve the poor, I just want to love on orphans. How do we really be "the church" and make our church look like that?

I know there are many churches out there that are truly being " the church" in this consumer driven world. I was so blessed to listen to threepastors of churches like this at conference this week. One was a pastor of a church in Cleveland, Ohio who read a book about orphan care and poverty and took action. His congregation has now a huge population of adopted children from domestic adoption to international. Him hearing that 80% of our prisons are filled with adults that were in foster care was enough for him to do something about it. His church alone has put a huge dent in Ohio's children available for foster care. Another pastor from Austin, Texas who had been the pastor of a mega church felt the Lord leading him to quit his job and serve the poor. With just a grill and some hot dogs he began living amongst the homeless of his city, feeding them, and doing life with them. He is now the pastor of a small church that revolves around serving the poor. One Sunday a month church is cancelled so his congregation can go out and serve their city. In fact, Easter Sunday instead of getting caught up in numbers and an immaculent service, he chose to cancel services and serve the homeless. Another pastor in Sydney, Austraillia have people from his church serve as street pastors in a very rough area on Saturday nights into early Sunday mornings just to care for people. To talk to the lady whose husband has just left her, to walk the guy home who has drank too much, to be Jesus to the hurting. Since they have started this ministry,violent crime has dropped by 30%! The saddest thing about his story was that when he presented this idea to other pastors in the area, the majority opposed because it would take away from their numbers on Sunday mornings because street pastors are usually out til 4am. That breaks my heart and the heart of God!! We are so concerned with gathering that we forget the importance of scattering and really why we are doing what we are doing.

What if all of our churches looked like this? What if we all just wanted to serve the poor, care for orphans, help the needy? Oh how much that would effect our world! If we were all sold out to the call of Christ. Our churches would would be different, our families would be differ t, and our cities would be transformed! There are 147 million orphans and 118 million People in the U.S that go to church. Oh, what we could do if our churches were truly living out the mission and were "the church" and not just "a church".