I know we aren’t done with Me Myself and I Am but I’ve been thinking a lot about our next series Faith Underground. The past two days posts have been a result of me thinking about these series. The purpose to Faith Underground is to talk to the students about the early church and how it was dangerous and revolutionary. The church challenged the Roman empire, the church changed the history of the world, the church is responsible for many of the great and wonderful things that happen today. However, the church has also been responsible and viewed as responsible for many of the negative things in today’s world. Right now I think a lot of students are seeing the latter more than the former. You can’t blame them. We’ve had our faults as humans, but that’s okay as long as we go back to Christ. But, the church has also been seen as goofy and ineffective. A lot of what we’ve offered students through the church in the past has been more schooling and watered down faith, I like to call Youth Group. The teenagers don’t need another group, they need a church, and that’s what we’re trying to do here at Nativity. The teenagers of Northern Baltimore County need a church that is dangerous in challenging today’s mind set and revolutionary in how it changes people’s lives.
I want students out there serving others, but not for service hours, not because they feel guilty, but it’s because that’s what they feel Christ has compelled them to do. I want students to change the way they play sports, they study at school, the music they dance to, the music they play, I want students to change recreational activity not because I want good kids, because I want students to seek out the love of our Savior through various forms of Godly worship and fellowship. I want students to change the way they spend Sundays and Thursday evenings and not because I want to be known, but because I want students to experience a Sabbath, a chance to slow down and really connect with God. I want students to come to church, not because our walls need to be filled, but because when two or more gather in His name, amazing things happen.
The church is dangerous, the church is revolutionary and we the people are supposed to be the church, so let’s start acting like one.