Jordan Cooper quoted John Wimber this week on how the world sometimes knows more about what the church should be about than those of us who show up at church every Sunday.
As John Wimber wrote, everyone seems to be able to see this except those of us in the church.
Folks, the world knows what [the church] is supposed to look like. Years ago in New York City, I got into a taxi cab with an Iranian taxi driver, who could hardly speak English. I tried to explain to him where I wanted to go, and as he was pulling his car out of the parking place, he almost got hit by a van that on its side had a sign reading The Pentecostal Church. He got real upset and said, "That guy’s drunk." I said, "No, he’s a Pentecostal. Drunk in the spirit, maybe, but not with wine."
He asked, "Do you know about church?" I said, "Well, I know a little bit about it; what do you know?" It was a long trip from one end of Manhattan to the other, and all the way down he told me one horror story after another that he’d heard about the church. He knew about the pastor that ran off with the choir master's wife, the couple that had burned the church down and collected the insurance—every horrible thing you could imagine.
We finally get to where we were going, I paid him, and as we’re standing there on the landing I gave him an extra-large tip. He got a suspicious look in his eyes—he’d been around, you know.
I said, "Answer me this one question." Now keep in mind, I’m planning on witnessing to him. "If there was a God and he had a church, what would it be like?" He sat there for awhile making up his mind to play or not. Finally he sighed and said, "Well, if there was a God and he had a church—they would care for the poor, heal the sick, and they wouldn’t charge you money to teach you the Book."
I turned around and it was like an explosion in my chest. "Oh, God." I just cried, I couldn’t help it. I thought, "Oh Lord, they know. The world knows what it’s supposed to be like. The only ones that don’t know are the Church."
As I read this, I too felt a sharp pain in my chest and said, "My God!" This truth, which is self evident, is why so many young people are leaving the church. These are children who have grown up in the church and witnessed for themselves, the bickering, backstabbing, hypocrisy and laziness of the church. I have personally heard so many young men especially (since I have four boys, and their friends) who are disenfranchised with "church". It is the same old music, the same old stale bread, and the church does nothing to help people such as the homeless, poor, hurting, etc. They don't see a real belief and acting upon of those beliefs in the people of the church. You know, raising the dead, healing the sick, deliverance, feeding the poor. I have to admit, that I too am sick of it. Don't get me wrong...I love Jesus, my Lord and Savior, my Hope, My Love. I love His people. I just don't really like them a whole lot most of the time. It is something I have to really work on a lot. But as an insider, if I have this much trouble with "church" then how much more an outsider. We, God's people, really need to get a clue. I think many problems of the church would vanish, if people got outside the four walls and their "sacred cows" and really did minister to the people "in the world" then we would see some real change in the dynamics of not only the church but also the world. For so long the church "talks" a great deal about the mission of the church but "does" very little of the mission of the church. Anyway, I will try to do better, with God's help, so that the 'cabdrivers' in my life see something more in me.
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