Young Evangelicals getting uncomfortable December 7, 2007
Posted by Elizabeth in DC , trackback
I recently got on a kick that involved buying a couple of Bible studies. One of the first ones I saw was titled: Get Uncomfortable: Serve the Poor. Stop Injustice. Change the World… In Jesus Name.
It took me a while, but I started reading it tonight. I can’t really comment on the content yet, though, because I couldn’t get past the first page: “Meet the Author: Todd Phillips.” As I read about him, I learned that he is the pastor of Frontline, a generational church within a mega-church (i.e., a huge gathering of about 3,000 young people every week that’s part of a larger mega-church).
This whole thing was so surprising to me because, when Zack and I lived in DC (before I met him), I heard about Frontline from someone I met randomly, and I attended it—once. I was disheartened—to say the least. Yes, there were tons of people there, and it seemed really fun. Yes, the music was great. Yes, the people were so nice. But I looked and looked for any sign of social justice work (which was always the way I chose a church community), and I didn’t find any. So I never went back. (Yes, maybe I should have given it another chance, but it has been my experience that if you can’t find a sign of social justice in a church within the first hour, then it’s probably not a big deal for them. So just know that my reading of the church at the time could have been all wrong…)
In the 4.5 years since I visited, though, it seems as though things have changed. In particular, Frontline hired a new pastor, Todd Phillips. Although Todd admits that he didn’t have a social justice focus for the first twelve years that he “followed Christ,” he says that he became convicted of the Biblical madates to help others by reading the Bible.
“My passion for this topic of poverty, injustice, suffering, and God’s heart for the poor came by reading Scripture. The Word of God transformed me as I read, reflected, memorized, and then acted upon God’s truth. I began to see people through God’s eyes as He revealed both His heart and the true condition of our world.”
And so now he’s authored a Bible study for teens/young adults on the topics of serving the poor and stopping injustice. He’s trying to ignite the same passion in his congregation, as well.
I don’t really know what to say about all of this, except that I am amazed. Even though I didn’t have anything bad to say about Frontline, when I visited it, it seemed as though — if there really was a Revolution in Jesusland — that this church might be a stronghold against the revolutionary powers. Not so.
Here are a couple of sentences from the first few pages of the book as he’s talking about the church’s history of not dealing with justice issues:
Many of us have turned the Bible into a self-help program rather than a life-long process of self-denial.
So what do we do? We can sit idly by and hurl accusations at the preachers of our churches. We can judge the country-club mentality of some of our congregations. We can even blame the publishing industry for leading us in the direction of self-indulgence. What will come of that criticsm? Nothing. The only option we have for profound change is to re-engage in the Word of God and then do what it says.
Comments»
The bible tells us to do two things. To help people who are in need and to work on ourselves to become more Christlike. James 2:27 gives a perfect summary: “A pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
One is not more important than the other.
Again, I see no difference between Phillips and Phelps.