The biggest problem with American...
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"The biggest problem with American Christianity," said Ernest Campbell, former pastor
of Riverside Church in New York City, "is that we have a Loving-Father gospel in an
Older-Brother church."
Most of us were younger brothers once. Most of us had cause to journey to a far country, and at some point in our lives, came back to Christ and the church. But sometime after we did so, a transformation took place. The younger brother became the older brother. And as we look out on the prospect of others coming into the church -- others whose lives may display more ragged edges, at the moment, than our own -- we feel somehow scandalized and uncomfortable at the prospect of rubbing elbows with them.
Unfortunately, that shows. In subtle ways, it gets communicated. All too often, newcomers are made to feel unwelcome and unsure if they measure up. A wise person has said, "The church is not so much a hotel for saints as a hospital for sinners." The word "prodigal" literally means wasteful -- and it is those truly wasteful people, those who have squandered God's good gifts (sometimes for many, many years), who receive the warmest welcome from the Master, when they finally do return.
Most of us were younger brothers once. Most of us had cause to journey to a far country, and at some point in our lives, came back to Christ and the church. But sometime after we did so, a transformation took place. The younger brother became the older brother. And as we look out on the prospect of others coming into the church -- others whose lives may display more ragged edges, at the moment, than our own -- we feel somehow scandalized and uncomfortable at the prospect of rubbing elbows with them.
Unfortunately, that shows. In subtle ways, it gets communicated. All too often, newcomers are made to feel unwelcome and unsure if they measure up. A wise person has said, "The church is not so much a hotel for saints as a hospital for sinners." The word "prodigal" literally means wasteful -- and it is those truly wasteful people, those who have squandered God's good gifts (sometimes for many, many years), who receive the warmest welcome from the Master, when they finally do return.
