By LeRoy Lawson
After my wife, Joy, and I completed our 20-month tour of America by motor home, we asked ourselves, are we satisfied with the state of our churches as a whole? No, not yet. As a movement we are still working our way through some difficult issues. On most of them, Joy and I have come to our own conclusions, giving thanks again that we belong to a group that believes in liberty in matters of opinion.
You may disagree with us. We don”t mind.
Let me briefly mention some of our druthers:
“¢ We wish we were more open to women in leadership. It has been heartening to see qualified men leading the churches we visited. Their presence makes a lie of the old saw that church is “for the women and children, God bless “em.” That certainly does not seem to be the case where we visited. This is a good thing. What is not so good, though, is that our strong emphasis on male leaders has often pushed women to the margin, where their many gifts are ignored and their energy underutilized.
Scripture teaches that all Christians””male and female””have spiritual gifts that are to be used in building up the body of Christ. If Ephesians, Romans, and 1 Corinthians are to be taken seriously, then we want to be certain that all members reach spiritual maturity””and maturity requires each member to use his or her gifts as spiritual sacrifices. If we placed more emphasis on service and less emphasis on gender or title, the whole body of Christ would be strengthened.
“¢ We hope we are maturing in our appreciation of the Christian church”s emphasis on baptism and the Lord”s Supper. Since the rising generation (by whatever name it is being called now) is much more attuned to symbolism and nonlinear learning than my generation, I have to admit that the rationalistic arguments that appealed to my peers are lost on young people. Similarly, the baby boomer rebellion against symbolism (no crosses in the church, no rituals on display) works against our attempts to reach young people, who find real meaning in the communal dramas of baptism and Communion (but not necessarily in the little cups of grape juice and little pellets of dough).
We are encouraged by the growing emphasis on these ordinances among new church plants and younger worshipers; we hope that our older (and especially our baby boomer) congregations catch on to this return to symbolic expression before they lose their young people.
“¢ We are gladdened by the expressed desire (we hear it often) to reach out to other ethnic groups beyond our own, but we see the need to greatly intensify our efforts. Thankfully some agencies are turning their attention to American ethnic groups along with their overseas efforts, and some of our church planting organizations are establishing ethnic churches in America”s cities, but there is much, much more to be done.
“¢ It worries us that some of our newest churches have nothing in their budgets for the church”s worldwide mission. This “America first” policy (or, even worse, “my church first” policy) flies in the face of the Great Commission and teaches young Christians a bad lesson””that it”s all about their own needs. Our movement has been energized by our strong missions emphases in the past; it is needed more than ever now.
“¢ We would encourage preachers and teachers to preach and teach the Word of the Lord. Personal stories and allusions to current events are helpful but not nourishing as a steady diet. Those who would teach must be students first of all.
I must quit. In case you missed the point, this is it: This is a season for rejoicing. But, as the song reminds us, God hasn”t brought us this far to leave us here. Our churches” best days are ahead.
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LeRoy Lawson is international consultant with Christian Missionary Fellowship, a member of the Publishing Committee, and a contributing editor to CHRISTIAN STANDARD.
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