Photo courtesy of my friend Angie Dempster. View more of her work by clicking here.
“The person who dies with the most stuff wins” is an adage of our culture. Competition is the water we swim in.
Yet this is not the case for the church. Jesus did not start an achieving system, in which Christians attempt to become holier than the other people in their faith community.
Following Jesus is about transformation. It’s about dead things coming to life. Becoming a new person, someone you were not before. It’s like when a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. There is a process, and in the end it is beautiful.
There is something about beauty and holiness that cannot be quantified. We notice it, but can never measure it. It is recognizable, but not easily explainable.
Below are some ways that churches can become counter-cultural places that do not have the value of achievement as the main priority.
- Help facilitate friendships that are not based on ministry tasks. Be friends with people, just for the sake of being friends. In Peace be the Journey, Kate Brown stated that society’s epidemic of anxiety and worry is linked to loneliness. Moreover, in The Wounded Healer, Henri Nouwen said:
“So we find it extremely hard to pay attention because of our intentions. As soon as our intentions take over, the question no longer is, “Who is he?” but “What can I get from him?”-and then we no longer listen to what he is saying but to what we can do with what he is saying. Then the fulfillment of our own unrecognized need for sympathy, friendship, popularity, success, understanding, money, or a career becomes our concern, and instead of paying attention to others we impose ourselves upon them with intrusive curiosity.”
- Focus on compassion instead of competition. Brene Brown stated:
“When you practice empathy and compassion with someone, there is not less of these qualities to go around. There’s more. Love is the last thing we need to ration in this world.”
- Focus on the truth about humanity, instead of lies. The truth sets us free. Lies hold us in bondage. Every human being is a sinner, and at the same time made in the image of and loved by God. Peter Scazzero, in Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, says:
“Getting off of our thrones and joining the rest of humanity is a must if we are to develop spiritual maturity.”
What are other ways that churches can become counter-cultural places that do not have the value of achievement as the main priority?
Thoughts 