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Serve Christ Through the Church
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Serve Christ Through The Church
I spent a wonderful hour standing on a mountaintop with 5 precious young Amish women, all dressed in simple long pale blue clothes without buttons. Each woman was wearing a bonnet and sensible heavy shoes. It was over a hundred degrees and I wondered if they were hot.
As I talked with them about God, I tried not to be self-conscious about my shorts and tank top. What must they think of me? I wondered. Always one to speak my thoughts, I asked. “I stand here before you, telling you I have a wonderful relationship with Jesus Christ. Do you believe I’m a Christian?”
“Certainly,” the spokesperson for the group said. “If Jesus is your savior, you’re a Christian. We just think it is harder living in your world.”
“My understanding is that you dress they way you do for modesty and simplicity,” I said. They nodded. I smiled and said, “I’m a modest person but you might not think so based on how I’m dressed.” They giggled.
Waiting for them, was a driver dressed in regular clothes. The Amish people I’d met in the past traveled by horse and buggy so I had to ask. “I thought you didn’t travel in cars.”
“We don’t drive but we hired a taxi for this trip,” a woman answered. “If we have a reason, we can ride in a car with others driving.”
“Amish is a culture and not religion,” they told me. “Christianity is our religion.” As we stood there gazing at the bubbling mud pots and steaming geysers of Yellowstone National Park, these women generously shared intimate details of their everyday life, spiritual practices, and beliefs. When I asked if I could write about what we discussed, they all looked at each other hesitantly. “We don’t want to be rude but we don’t use the internet,” a young woman said shyly. “I don’t think it would be right to put the private details on it.” I already knew it would be rude to take their pictures.
They do however read a large variety of books and were less worried about the information going in a book. You may find more about this fascinating conversation in my next book. One thing they said has haunted me. The Amish watch no television, have no electronic gadgets, and don’t watch movies. While talking with them, I remarked, “It seems like it would be easier to develop a close personal relationship with God without so many of the distractions of the modern world.”
The oldest woman and the one that seemed to be in charge of this group said, “You’d think so but truthfully, we have our problems. What happens to us is that sometimes we become disciples of the church rather than disciples of Christ.”
As her words played through my head repeatedly, I started thinking about the people I’d met who were so disappointed with church. Most of these people had previously dedicated much of their time to church work and when church failed them, they gave up on the church and often on God.
I remembered the former priest who told me, “I became a priest because I loved the Catholic Church.” When the church disappointed him, he left the church. He no longer believed in the divinity of Jesus or in the truth of the Bible.
I thought about the man who said, “We don’t go to church. My wife went to church all of her life but when her first marriage ended in divorce, the church refused to give her communion. I believe Jesus was a great man but I don’t believe He was the Son of God.” When I asked him if he had a relationship with God, he gave an emphatic no.
I recalled the mother who didn’t take her children to church because the church she served faithfully had refused to marry she and her husband because they were of different Christian faiths. Her guilt over her children’s lack of Christian education was noticeable and she admitted that her personal relationship with God had suffered.
While traveling I have heard story after story of church fights, church splits, church gossip, church politics, and pastoral or leadership sexual indiscretions. Many gave these as reasons why they no longer attended a church or believed in the God of the Bible.
As I prayed for the people, so disappointed with the church, face after face came to my mind. I realized that even the church, as wonderful as it is, is a poor substitute for serving Christ. Could it be that the people who had abandoned God and church because of mistakes made by the church had been unknowingly serving the church instead of Christ?
As I prayed, other faces came to my mind—faces of people who admitted they had been hurt by the church but continued to faithfully serve Christ in church. I remembered the dear Christian couple who were spending their retirement years in an RV, planting churches. They shared in detail a terrible church incident that devastated them and would have made most leave the church forever. After much prayer, they made the difficult decision to change churches but never once considered abandoning the church or God.
What was the difference? I submit that this second group was serving Christ through the church rather than serving the church. When things went wrong at the church, they “listened with the ear of a disciple.” When they spoke, they “spoke with the tongue of a disciple” and could “sustain others with their words.” When people harmed them, “they didn’t cover their face in humiliation” because they knew whom they served. When hurt by the church, they were “not disobedient” by stopping church attendance and did not “turn back” from following Christ.
Isa 50:4-7
The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of disciples, That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple. The Lord GOD has opened My ear; And I was not disobedient, Nor did I turn back. I gave My back to those who strike Me, And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting. For the Lord GOD helps Me, Therefore, I am not disgraced; Therefore, I have set My face like flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed. NASU
Our church is the bride of Christ and the closest we can get to the kingdom of God while on earth, but it is comprised of humans. The church will let us down but Christ never will. If we serve the church, our rewards are here on earth. If we serve Christ through the church, our rewards are in heaven.
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