Of Mice and Ministers, Part 2

Continued from Saturday...

So what happened? I think the answer lies in one saying of Jesus: "My Kingdom is not of this world."

I'm of the opinion that this verse is directed squarely at the Church as we follow Christ as His disciples. As the subjects of the King, we are the representatives of the Kingdom to this day and age. We cannot allow the way we do Kingdom work to reflect a World of which we aren't a part. The Church is not simply an institution, a charitable organization, or a social club. It's not a part of your cultural heritage, a cornerstone of the community, or the preserver of moral values. And it's most definitely not a political organization. We are a people, a Kingdom, and our only purpose is to worship and serve our King.

And that's precisely where I think the SBC has tripped up: they have earned their reputation as being culture warriors. And it's not just the Baptists, it's the American church as a whole. We are anti-gay, anti-abortion, pro-gun, pro-supply-side economics, etc., and we represent ourselves to the world as such. For quite some time, we have been a wing of the GOP. We've confused America with the Kingdom. We've spent too much time fighting against Mickey Mouse and not enough time fighting against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. We've run our churches as if they were a part of this World.

Michael Spencer, better known as the iMonk, is one of my favorite bloggers. He's written a compelling analysis of the problems in the SBC entitled "Change or Die". I encourage you to read it here: http://www.patrolmag.com/times/1694/change-or-die . The most telling thing Spencer reports, to me, is that the SBC simply doesn't have any money allocated for sending out new missionaries. From a theological tradition that has long been at the forefront of missions and evangelism, that strikes me as an incredible tragedy. We cannot fight for political control of our nation while we leave lost souls to die without hearing the Gospel. That amounts to a fundamental betrayal of the Great Comission.

As the Church in America, we must refocus. We must repent of our lust for political influence and remember that we are called to make disciples, not Republicans.

That having been said, are we to leave politics and the culture war completely neglected?

Part 3 tomorrow...