In this week's sermon at LPC, I mentioned a study by the Barna Group that suggests young people ages 16-29 have a disturbingly negative view of the church.  The study was also mentioned in a USA Today report.  In worship we watched the first 55 seconds of this clip from Comedy Central and the Colbert Report.  You'll notice that the audience cheered when Colbert said, "There's one thing we know about Christians.  They don't forgive.  It's not in their nature."

We can parse and spin these findings in any number of directions.  We may want to minimize or amend the conclusion that young people in alarming numbers are not just turned off by the church but turned against it, but we ignore the reports and the reality they represent at great peril to ourselves and the church.

I said in the sermon that I am not suggesting that we slacken our standards or compromise with a corrupt culture.  We dare not.  But let me suggest some things we can do:

  • Acknowledge our hypocrisy.  We love to sing about amazing grace, but we often flee from it. Unless we are willing to acknowledge our sin, we will never enjoy the redemption Christ has won for us. 
  • Confess our judgmentalism.  There’s an important difference between noticing differences and discerning error and being judgmental.  We do notice differences.  That’s okay so long as we don’t allow those differences to become the basis for withholding acceptance and welcome.  We must discern error, but in order to foster restoration not to impose rejection.  Judgmentalism declares guilt and prescribes punishment.  That is not ours to do. 
  • Spend time with those who have negative perceptions.  Nothing will dispel the notion that all Christians are hypocritical and judgmental than spending time with and getting to know Christians who aren’t. When you’re with non-churched folks, listen more than you talk.  Show what you believe before you tell what you believe.  Be as non-anxious when the time is right to share what you’ve experienced with Christ as you would about saying what you saw on Oprah or what you think of Donovan McNabb. 
  • Lead with welcome, follow with expectations.  Scripture sets high standards for those who would follow Christ.  Discipleship is costly.  We should not be timid about insisting on standards and paying the cost.  But the first thing a visitor to our church or a non-Christian friend should experience in our corporate and individual lives is the warmth and the width of our embrace.
  • Tell our stories honestly, humbly and without comment.  People of all ages long for sincerity and genuineness. Our testimony is not just the story of our conversion, whether it was at a point of time or over a period of time.  Our testimony is our simple telling of the ways we experience our relationship with Christ.  Some of those stories are stories of fireworks and great adventure.  Others are of daily life quietly lived. They maybe stories of mountain heights or long sojourns through the desert.  We need to tell our stories honestly, humbly and without comment.  And in the church we need to sit still long enough to hear each others’ stories without interruption or comment. 
  • Sit at the feet of Jesus  Mary chose the better thing when she sat and listened to Jesus’ words.  We hear Jesus in personal devotional times, group study and corporate worship.  Our Bibles should be well worn and used to being open.

The Barna survey draws particular attention to the perception that Christianity is anti-gay.  Many of us know what a vexing issue this is not just at the national church level, but in our personal lives and as we relate with friends and family members.  As the Barna report says, our young people “claim that the church has not helped them apply the biblical teaching on homosexuality to their friendships with gays and lesbians.” 

The church earns a reputation for hypocrisy when this high and loving standard is not applied equally to gay and straight Christians.  The church is judgmental when it tells our young people to avoid friendship with gays and lesbians rather than teaching them about a still more excellent way that does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. 

I believe that the church must remain unyielding in its adherence to the Scriptural understanding of human sexuality and its standards for the appropriate expression of sexual intimacy.  I believe that the definition of marriage as a life-long covenant between one man and one woman cannot be altered by ecclesial or civil courts.  Our Presbyterian Form of Government has rightly discerned that among the standards for those who would bear church office “is the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage, or chastity in singleness.” (BOO G-6.0106B) Those who would ignore the Scriptures or undo our standards threaten the health and the witness of the church in a morally confused world (BOC, 9.47). 

Langhorne Presbyterian Church is a remarkable community of people committed to Christ and the life of biblical discipleship and to being a place of belonging and purpose.  We’ll never rid ourselves of all traces of hypocrisy and judgmentalism this side of glory.  But we can repent of both and seek to show in our lives the life of Jesus, whose nature it is to forgive. 

What do you think?

Bill Teague

March 2, 2008