A modern day Luther, Shane Claiborne talks about his passions, beliefs and the truth of Christianity that we have forgotten this day in age (in his book The Irresistible Revolution). I’ve talked about this book in previous blogs, but I’m continually intrigued by it, so I keep sharing my experiences through it, with you.
Throughout his book, I have mostly agreed with Shane's words and thoughts. I've found so much hope and truth in what he says about our Christian people and how we’ve strayed from the life we were asked to live by Christ. However, toward the end of the book Shane starts talking about the church he attends.
Willow Creek was experiencing the very same thing my hometown church is experiencing; the need for expansion. The walls of their (and our) church were seemingly bursting with the capacity of people occupying it. So they, like us, decided to build a bigger building for worship. I was in favor of this building project at our church. I’ve been so excited about not having enough space and needing more. What a wonderful problem to have; too many people in fellowship and worship in too small of a space. Isn’t it a beautiful sight? But Shane said this about Willow Creek;
“ The pervasive myth is that as we grow larger, we can do more good. But there is little evidence that this is ever realized. My own research and experience would suggest that as congregations grow in terms of staff and property, their giving decreases dramatically, especially money given directly to the poor. As we build our buildings, human temples are being destroyed by hunger and homelessness. The early prophets would say that a church that spends millions of dollars on buildings while their children are starving is guilty of murder. Imagine the scene in a biological family; the father building a mansion while his children are going hungry. He’s be institutionalized or jailed.”
The last piece of Shane’s conversation that I want to share with you is this,
“One of the underlying assumptions is that money from the offering or tithe belongs to the church. But the Scriptures consistently teach that the offering is God’s instrument of redistribution and that it belongs to the poor. Giving to the poor should not make its way into the budget, it is the budget.”
This last statement is why, at the beginning of this blog, I called Shane a modern day Luther. Luther (and Lutherans) left the Catholic church because they found they were being cheated of their money. They were told their money was going to get them or people they loved out of purgatory, when really that’s not what Scripture says our money is capable of doing or supposed to be used for. I see this building situation in a similar light. Our money does not belong to the church. Historically Lutherans were Lutheran because they believed this, but now we’re almost going back to the way it used to be when we were a part of the Catholic church; No, we’re not lying to people directly about where their money is going, but we are cheating people out of the Christian way Christ called us to live. This is something we should at least acknowledge when we’re spending thousands or even millions of dollars on ANYTHING other than feeding starving bodies.
I was pretty upset by all of this mayhem Shane created in my heart and head after I read his thoughts about expanding the church. All of a sudden, my support of building a new church was starting to diminish and my excitement turned to sadness. He is right in his thoughts and I think Jesus would have said the same thing. If we look at the way Jesus preached and lived, we will not see him building a temple to contain his preaching or religion. He walked the streets preaching his message, in every action and word he humanly lived out his faith, and that is what is meant by the words, “living the Word through our actions” (or for us kiddies that sang in front of church one morning: “La la la la Live Out Loud.”) ☺
So, in conclusion, I want to say this: I feel the same disheartened feeling Shane is expressing in his book about where we put our money. I feel this not only with the church though. I wish we could live our faith in every part of our lives. I wish it didn’t have to be contained to those bursting walls. But, as I had this discussion with my soul mate the other morning, he brought up a very good point that helps relieve a little sadness; “Or, Allison, we live the way we have to live in today’s world” (he’s so right – we would get shot today if we tried to sing Christian songs in the street) and learn by going to that new building, ways to live our faith out in today’s context of daily life. We don’t live the way they did thousands of years ago, when Scripture was written.”So, for all of you Christians, pastors, parents and prophets: Live out loud in your life’s context, whether you drive a rusty Geo Prism ☺ or a BMW, whether you make $2000.00 a year waitressing or $500,000.00 a year doing whatever gets you that kind of money. *Side note: To my beloved Peace Lutheran family, this is in no way an attack or discredit on the way we have chosen to continue our ministry. I love our mission and our fellowship, and because of the context of our world and our lives, I support the building project fully.
Throughout his book, I have mostly agreed with Shane's words and thoughts. I've found so much hope and truth in what he says about our Christian people and how we’ve strayed from the life we were asked to live by Christ. However, toward the end of the book Shane starts talking about the church he attends.
Willow Creek was experiencing the very same thing my hometown church is experiencing; the need for expansion. The walls of their (and our) church were seemingly bursting with the capacity of people occupying it. So they, like us, decided to build a bigger building for worship. I was in favor of this building project at our church. I’ve been so excited about not having enough space and needing more. What a wonderful problem to have; too many people in fellowship and worship in too small of a space. Isn’t it a beautiful sight? But Shane said this about Willow Creek;
“ The pervasive myth is that as we grow larger, we can do more good. But there is little evidence that this is ever realized. My own research and experience would suggest that as congregations grow in terms of staff and property, their giving decreases dramatically, especially money given directly to the poor. As we build our buildings, human temples are being destroyed by hunger and homelessness. The early prophets would say that a church that spends millions of dollars on buildings while their children are starving is guilty of murder. Imagine the scene in a biological family; the father building a mansion while his children are going hungry. He’s be institutionalized or jailed.”
The last piece of Shane’s conversation that I want to share with you is this,
“One of the underlying assumptions is that money from the offering or tithe belongs to the church. But the Scriptures consistently teach that the offering is God’s instrument of redistribution and that it belongs to the poor. Giving to the poor should not make its way into the budget, it is the budget.”
This last statement is why, at the beginning of this blog, I called Shane a modern day Luther. Luther (and Lutherans) left the Catholic church because they found they were being cheated of their money. They were told their money was going to get them or people they loved out of purgatory, when really that’s not what Scripture says our money is capable of doing or supposed to be used for. I see this building situation in a similar light. Our money does not belong to the church. Historically Lutherans were Lutheran because they believed this, but now we’re almost going back to the way it used to be when we were a part of the Catholic church; No, we’re not lying to people directly about where their money is going, but we are cheating people out of the Christian way Christ called us to live. This is something we should at least acknowledge when we’re spending thousands or even millions of dollars on ANYTHING other than feeding starving bodies.
I was pretty upset by all of this mayhem Shane created in my heart and head after I read his thoughts about expanding the church. All of a sudden, my support of building a new church was starting to diminish and my excitement turned to sadness. He is right in his thoughts and I think Jesus would have said the same thing. If we look at the way Jesus preached and lived, we will not see him building a temple to contain his preaching or religion. He walked the streets preaching his message, in every action and word he humanly lived out his faith, and that is what is meant by the words, “living the Word through our actions” (or for us kiddies that sang in front of church one morning: “La la la la Live Out Loud.”) ☺
So, in conclusion, I want to say this: I feel the same disheartened feeling Shane is expressing in his book about where we put our money. I feel this not only with the church though. I wish we could live our faith in every part of our lives. I wish it didn’t have to be contained to those bursting walls. But, as I had this discussion with my soul mate the other morning, he brought up a very good point that helps relieve a little sadness; “Or, Allison, we live the way we have to live in today’s world” (he’s so right – we would get shot today if we tried to sing Christian songs in the street) and learn by going to that new building, ways to live our faith out in today’s context of daily life. We don’t live the way they did thousands of years ago, when Scripture was written.”So, for all of you Christians, pastors, parents and prophets: Live out loud in your life’s context, whether you drive a rusty Geo Prism ☺ or a BMW, whether you make $2000.00 a year waitressing or $500,000.00 a year doing whatever gets you that kind of money. *Side note: To my beloved Peace Lutheran family, this is in no way an attack or discredit on the way we have chosen to continue our ministry. I love our mission and our fellowship, and because of the context of our world and our lives, I support the building project fully.
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