Understanding "the other"
My wife and I tend to have the types of conversations that most people don't (though I'm making an assumption, just generalizing from what we've been told by our friends). I tend to think a lot about the "ideal" church, the one I would like to be a pastor of. One of the most recent topics of conversation has been about why churches tend to neglect so many people outside of their walls.
I think one of my observations has been that we in the church have forgotten what it is like to not be part of the in-group. We as Christians are great in our understanding of developing communities, and those communities do a lot of good for individuals looking to find their voice, their place, their identity. But in creating such nurturing communities, there is an inherent risk of neglecting those outside of the group, whether by choice or social ostracism (is that a word?) Essentially, if people don't look, act, behave in culturally defined appropriate ways, they are not accepted as members of the in-group. This can be the choice of the individual in question, but quite often the homogeneity of the existing church automatically leaves those outside as outcasts.
The ramifications:
1) Churches tend to adhere to the homogenous growth principle, the ideology of the church growth movement popular in the '70s and '80s that believed that the best way to grow a church would be to focus on attracting a homogenous unit: people that were similar in culture and socioeconomic status). Thus churches tended to become more and more similar, often reflecting a homogenous group-think... having the same worldviews - dress, priorities (safety, financial wellbeing, importance of nuclear families, etc.), political opinions.
2) Those who come in contact with these churches who do not fit the patten do not feel welcomed, feel exploited (i.e., "Look at our diversity! we have this __________ person that's an active part of our church!), feel like an invisible presence at the church (as their needs and concerns are ignored or not addressed), or any combination of the above.
3) I'm sure there are a bunch more, but those two are the ones I want to focus on for this entry.
Back to 2), the impact of this is significant. Jesus, during his time of ministry, tended to focus most of his energies on those people that did not fit the societal patterns established by first century Judaism. Look at those iconic stories that we remember; the Samaritan woman at the well, Zacchaeus the tax collector, the leper, the blind man... essentially, the marginalized and outcast of the society. The "others" of their time. Even look at his disciples, Jesus' in-group was a rag tag collection of "others," with none of them really fitting in with the in-group of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and other religious leaders of the day!
It seems as if somewhere along the line, we as the church have forgotten Jesus' call to the marginalized. We've forgotten what it feels like to be marginalized, ignored, left out, even something as simple as what it feels like to "not be cool!" This is not a good thing, by any stretch of the imagination.
In dreaming of what the church can be in the present and future, I think we need to have an influx of leaders who aren't cool! We need people with the humility that comes only from being left out, of being the last one picked, of being the one made fun of by the in-groups we encounter throughout life, of having one's needs ignored and forgotten. Because its only during those times of perceived abandonment that we experience the true love that God promises. And it is those types of experiences that give us the excitement to share that love with others, and equally significant, those experiences also give us the sensitivity to look out for others that are going through the same things. We look to the fringes, we seek out the outcasts, and we commune with them, love them, and tune their sensitivities to the God that is seeking them out in a similar fashion to when God found us.
I think one of my observations has been that we in the church have forgotten what it is like to not be part of the in-group. We as Christians are great in our understanding of developing communities, and those communities do a lot of good for individuals looking to find their voice, their place, their identity. But in creating such nurturing communities, there is an inherent risk of neglecting those outside of the group, whether by choice or social ostracism (is that a word?) Essentially, if people don't look, act, behave in culturally defined appropriate ways, they are not accepted as members of the in-group. This can be the choice of the individual in question, but quite often the homogeneity of the existing church automatically leaves those outside as outcasts.
The ramifications:
1) Churches tend to adhere to the homogenous growth principle, the ideology of the church growth movement popular in the '70s and '80s that believed that the best way to grow a church would be to focus on attracting a homogenous unit: people that were similar in culture and socioeconomic status). Thus churches tended to become more and more similar, often reflecting a homogenous group-think... having the same worldviews - dress, priorities (safety, financial wellbeing, importance of nuclear families, etc.), political opinions.
2) Those who come in contact with these churches who do not fit the patten do not feel welcomed, feel exploited (i.e., "Look at our diversity! we have this __________ person that's an active part of our church!), feel like an invisible presence at the church (as their needs and concerns are ignored or not addressed), or any combination of the above.
3) I'm sure there are a bunch more, but those two are the ones I want to focus on for this entry.
Back to 2), the impact of this is significant. Jesus, during his time of ministry, tended to focus most of his energies on those people that did not fit the societal patterns established by first century Judaism. Look at those iconic stories that we remember; the Samaritan woman at the well, Zacchaeus the tax collector, the leper, the blind man... essentially, the marginalized and outcast of the society. The "others" of their time. Even look at his disciples, Jesus' in-group was a rag tag collection of "others," with none of them really fitting in with the in-group of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and other religious leaders of the day!
It seems as if somewhere along the line, we as the church have forgotten Jesus' call to the marginalized. We've forgotten what it feels like to be marginalized, ignored, left out, even something as simple as what it feels like to "not be cool!" This is not a good thing, by any stretch of the imagination.
In dreaming of what the church can be in the present and future, I think we need to have an influx of leaders who aren't cool! We need people with the humility that comes only from being left out, of being the last one picked, of being the one made fun of by the in-groups we encounter throughout life, of having one's needs ignored and forgotten. Because its only during those times of perceived abandonment that we experience the true love that God promises. And it is those types of experiences that give us the excitement to share that love with others, and equally significant, those experiences also give us the sensitivity to look out for others that are going through the same things. We look to the fringes, we seek out the outcasts, and we commune with them, love them, and tune their sensitivities to the God that is seeking them out in a similar fashion to when God found us.
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