So I was listening to a podcast a while ago with Leonard Sweet making the claim that the Church was still in a young phase. He listed out the past atrocities of the church and used these irresponsible acts as an argument for the Church still being in an in infant state. Fair enough. The Church has acted quite terribly over the past thousand-plus years. However, I don’t think this is because the Church has never grown up…I believe it is because the Church has digressed and is now beginning to regain some of the positive attributes of the 1st century…and is willing to bring to light the sins of pride, power, control, and idolatry that we have often battled with.
My friend Alan Hirsch has a blog and book coming out called The Forgotten Ways. On his blog he points out this fact:
100AD There are as little as 25,000 Christians
310AD There are as many as 20,000,000 Christians
A Church that could grow this exponentially in 210 years…with no paid laity, no buildings, under persecution, while meeting in homes…doesn’t seem like an immature Church. It seems that they knew/believed/lived something we won’t/can’t/wouldn’t. I often struggle with this reality. How have we muddled up our faith with so much stuff that Jesus didn’t teach while neglecting the basic things the He did teach? I believe that we, the Church, are taking steps to return to God as the prodigal son did in Luke 15…and I believe that God is running towards us as well. I appreciate Leonard’s optimism that the Church is maturing and growing, I agree. But I see what is happening, and what will continue to happen, is a re-emergence of a Jesus-only human-expression of God’s heart and work on earth.
A great book that has encouraged me is Christianity Rediscovered by Vincent J. Donovan. If you want to start a journey of finding faith without cultural hinderances I think that this book is a good starting point. I am looking forward to capitalizing on Alan’s research and study in the book. Hopefully it will lead in some good study of my own.
