Times are a changing, as they say. As I watch on with interest regarding the American evangelical church, and how it too is being drawn into why it has responded so poorly, like the Catholic Church, to many and variegated claims of abuse, I wonder if God is finally judging his church.
Like many, I find that judgement can’t come quickly enough. Of course, we don’t want people to be falsely tried by lynch mobs, but there is far more likelihood that there are an incredible number of hideous cases of abuse that haven’t yet seen the light of day.
My vision of a church betrothed to God is of a place, a sanctuary, humanity’s true home, where those who love God do what God requires, who are open to and welcoming of external scrutiny, who see that they are to be of service to God and are not to be served—as has become the case in so many situations to the shame of God’s true believers. My vision of a church betrothed to God is one of a place that doesn’t ‘manage risk’ to protect itself, but one that foresees risks proactively like a guardian would, and one that responds to risks that become incidents and to be open to thorough, third-party, expert and transparent investigation, to the pleasure of all stakeholders. My vision is that the church would view abuse through the lens of survivors and survivors’ families and friends.
This church would be happy to be wrong, just as the risen Lord Christ had accepted the betrayal of humanity, in being ‘wrong’ when he was never more right, just days earlier on the cross.
See the point? Our church needs to be willing to suffer for righteousness’s and justice’s sake. We need to be seen by the world as an organisation that can be wronged and, at the same time, respond appropriately. How else is the church to be trustworthy? The church must be an organisation that bears suffering well. Its leaders need to be prepared to be wrong, and regularly so. This demands humility, which is only possible through a fervent relationship with Christ himself.
But today’s church heralds itself in power. It lauds the Christian personalities that are famous, and these people are put on pedestals of integrity they cannot maintain. Do you see that we are part of the problem? Can you see how we have magnified our favourite pastor and our popular church and our ‘best’ denomination instead of Christ, himself? Can you see how we have made idols of our churches and ministers and denominations?
How is the church being reformed in this day? We are on the cusp of reformation; can you not see that? Can you not see the change that is sweeping the world? And this change is bringing the church into the 21st century.
Darkness ought never to have refuge to hide, in all organisations and communities, especially not in the church. The light of Christ ought to shine in every situation of abuse, present and past, and every abused party ought to have their justice. Every single one! This will happen in any event, but how much better for it to happen in our living days?
Shouldn’t every Christian and church be sick and tired of all the abuse accounts we hear? Shouldn’t it sicken us to the core that this would occur in any community attached to the name of God?
Yet, it’s not until we have suffered abuse, or a loved one has been mired in such a way, that we care as we should. Is not until abuse knocks on our door that we readily recognise how inherently it disrupts our spirit. It is the scourge of the evil one.
No church should be in the practice of defending abuse. Indeed, every church should stand as committed, that if even one person were to be abused, that it, contrite and true, would do everything in its power to repent, even to the point of being prepared to be ended. This surely is the language of the kingdom, whereby Christ always heralded ‘the least of these’! It is this kingdom that completely reverses the numbers game. One becomes important, just as God is one.
Even one person harmed in the name of God is a tremendous atrocity. One person made in his image, created as special as anyone ever created, has as much importance as anyone else. This is how important the church must feel about its humanity. Without its humanity it is nothing!
I crave the day when the church may be transformed to such a place that it is the holy vestibule, safe and surely sanctified, a cogent place to rest, and a place where God would truly reign, and the interests of its common humanity, represented in each individual person, dignified and respected.
Of course, these are just words! And words have been part of the problem all along. The reforming church will learn its place, it will learn when to be quiet and it will become a learner, interested in the interests of those with a claim against it. How dare any of us stubbornly refute the case of the aggressor and silence them! The true church befriends the aggressor by proving it is no threat; that there is nothing to hide.
Indeed, this new church will be fearless and humble, and it will embody a sacrificial character, reversing a nature that has too often in the past sacrificed individuals for the so-called betterment of the organisation. No, the way the church is the church is it heralds the sanctity of the individual. Then it has the Spirit’s power.
This is the church that I look forward to. This is the church that God is building. This is the church that all people will call the church. This is the church that won’t convert religious people into atheists. This is a church that Christ will call his own.
Photo by Maxime Bhm on Unsplash
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