Deconstructing Christiantiy

Human beings, having suffered a little, will seek to unseat the injustice brought upon us. It is one of our greatest characteristics and we celebrate it as a triumph of the human spirit. Gladiator, Brave Heart, Lord of the Rings, Mall Cop, these great epics illustrate how mankind rises to throw off the chains of tyranny.

While this great human asset may be admirable, it could actually be destroying the American Church. Well not that asset exactly, but a perversion of the asset. We have an insatiable need to react to the negatives that we have suffered. This desire develops into a need to fix what’s broken. As great as that may seem, it can quickly become out of balance and reactionary, and then our pure desire becomes just as destructive as that which we are trying to fix.

It is awesome when we are brave enough to learn from our past and make changes. Our experiences help us to improve the vitality of our communities. Every Christian, especially leaders, should evaluate and seek clarity for how to apply the lessons learned from past mistakes. As we try to sort out our history it is only “natural” to react this way. But my friends, we are not called to a natural course in this life. In fact the course we are on is super-natural. God has called us to join him on His super-natural mission; a mission led by the Holy Spirit, who is God Himself. We have not been called to determine the mission for ourselves based on our bias and make sweeping decisions because of past hurts. These things are rooted in pride. As you know, pride makes us an opponent of God (God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, James 4:6). I don’t want to be in that position and I don’t think you do either. So we may need to stop and ask ourselves, “which kind of natural are we operating in, the Spirit or the flesh?”

In my ministry I meet with new church planters all the time. It is one of my great joys to be able to connect with these men and women. Encouraging them in their journey is such a blessing. I am always excited to see the zeal in their eyes and the ambition to advance the Gospel in their hearts. One thing I can almost always sense from them is how they are reacting to the environment from which they have come. If you listen long enough you can hear their pain, distrust, disappointment for “how church was” and “what the church wasn’t doing well” as well as their hope and joy for what they will do with their new church plant. It is very rare for me to meet a church planter who is not deconstructing their understanding of church.

To be very clear, religion should be deconstructed. Gospel-less, Christ-less, churchianity should not be given the favor or gentleness of deconstruction. It should be demolished! Also, God often uses those of us who have been turned off or injured by an older thing to start something new. We have to seek God on what He is calling us to do and define our churches based on that calling. It’s important to know and draw from the well of past experiences and, to some degree, we have to know and embrace that those experiences shaped us. They are wrapped up in God’s sovereignty. But in our hurts and wounds, in our experience and disappointment we should not define our new church by what we don’t want to do. Our mission statement shouldn’t read “Not like the others”. I want to call church planters to open hearts, fresh starts, and healing from past streams that were dysfunctional.

If you are planting a church and you are constantly speaking about your distrust or disapproval of the Evangelical church in America, you are going to draw people just like you. And guess what, they will likely distrust you too. People want to follow vision. They want to be led into something great. Saying more about what we won’t do rather than what we want to do is not going to bring around the type of people who will accomplish any vision. Show grace to the Bride, she is your Savior’s pride and joy. He and thousands of His servants have given their lives for her and He is jealous for her. In your constructing do not deconstruct her without care. She isn’t a Tinker Toy for you to take liberties with and to redefine based on the moorings of your heart. Realize that the deconstruction is almost always happening in your heart and working inwardly to your pride. Humble yourself. For it is an honor to be able to join God on His spirit-filled mission to build His church.