President Donald Trump told reporters yesterday that he is ready to order federal law enforcement intervention to combat crime in Chicago and Baltimore. “I have an obligation,” he said. “This isn’t a political thing.” He stated, “We’re going in,” but added, “I didn’t say when.”
Officials in both cities are opposed to such moves.
The president’s announcement followed police reports that at least fifty-eight people were shot in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend, eight fatally.
The violence in the city brought to mind a personal experience there many years ago. When I was in college, I led a ministry team that spent a week in Chicago working with inner-city churches. I was deeply impressed by the commitment of these leaders to making a transformational difference. They could easily have left their community for safer environs, but they felt called by God to be his light in their darkness.
Such efforts are continuing in Chicago today. Churches and ministries are supporting mothers who lose children to violence, offering events and strategies for pairing younger and older generations, providing after-school programs and safe party events on Friday nights to keep children out of harm’s way, and hosting feeding and mentoring programs.
I have personally witnessed similar ministries at work in other major cities around the world. Philip Yancey famously asserted that “God goes where he’s wanted.” The evidence of Scripture, Jesus’ earthly ministry, and church history also shows that “God goes where he’s needed.”
Trusting the church when the church hurts us
Yesterday, we reflected on the challenge of trusting God when he disappoints us. Today, let’s take up a related question: How do we trust the church when the church hurts us?
You probably have personal examples here, as do I. So did Jeremiah, who was beaten and imprisoned by Pashhur the priest (Jeremiah 20:1–2). So did Stephen, who was martyred by the high priest and other religious leaders (Acts 7). So did the apostles, who were arrested and beaten by the religious authorities (Acts 5:17–40). So did Paul, who was repeatedly persecuted by religious leaders. So did Jesus most of all, who was condemned in illegal trials staged by the high priest and then crucified under pressure from religious leaders.
What was true of Jewish religious authorities in early Christianity has been true of Christian authorities across the centuries since. From the millions who died in Crusades championed by the Church, to Southern clergy support for slavery and Jim Crow discrimination, to clergy abuse scandals of recent years, the church of Jesus Christ has often failed to be the body of Jesus Christ.
We can respond with the truism, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven,” which is true. We can note that our faith is to be in a holy God, not fallen people. We know not to be surprised when the sins of sinners harm the innocent as well.
But Christianity claims that followers of Jesus will become like Jesus by following him. The New Testament teaches that Christians are a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17) in whom the Spirit of God actually lives (1 Corinthians 3:16) and that the Father is working to mold us into the character of his Son (Romans 8:29). No other religion makes such transformative claims.
So, when the church fails us, it is understandable to feel that God has failed us as well.
Church attendance and health outcomes
However, if we are measuring the relevance and value of church attendance by its results in those who attend, there is good news here as well.
According to research, participation in a religious community correlates with better health outcomes and longer life, higher financial generosity, and more stable families. The more we participate, the greater the positive effects:
- Sixty-two percent of those who ranked high in church engagement also ranked high in human flourishing.
- Only 40 percent of those with average church engagement scores ranked high in human flourishing.
- And only 23 percent of those who ranked low in church engagement scored high in human flourishing.
These findings make sense. “Going to church” on occasion is not the same thing as encountering Jesus personally. And only Jesus, working by his Spirit, can change our lives and transform our character. Listening to sermons and Bible studies, singing hymns and choruses, and otherwise attending church activities is no more transformative apart from the Spirit than watching a football game is transformative apart from participation on the field.
But Satan does not want us to know this. If he cannot keep us from church attendance, he will tempt us to believe that attending church checks the “spirituality box” and constitutes all we need to do in our relationship with God. Then, when our lives are no different, we can erroneously but easily conclude that the church makes no difference in the world. And skeptics who see our unchanged lives can conclude the same as well.
“Pinholes through which I see the face of God”
In Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Ethics, the philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote: “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.” In other words, we should ask of everything we consider doing, “What if everyone did that?”
Missionaries sent around the globe, universities and hospitals begun and operated by churches and denominations, and ministries to human needs wherever needs are found—each shows the wisdom of God’s call not to “give up the habit of meeting together” (Hebrews 10:25). If everyone stopped going to church, all of this would stop as well.
On an individual level: What if everyone experienced the risen Lord Jesus personally every day and corporately every week? What if every Christian sought his voice when we study his word, listened for his Spirit when we pray, worshiped him as our “Audience of One” when we sing at church, and made him known through our words and works in our congregation and our community?
Such a lifestyle is not reserved for the few but is God’s intention for us all. This is what Watchman Nee called “the normal Christian life.”
Oswald Chambers observed,
“If I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God.”
Will you “see the face of God” today?
Quote for the day:
“Obedience is the road to freedom, humility the road to pleasure, unity the road to personality.” —C. S. Lewis
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