Dear Christian Family,

I have known for some time what the scripture says about a great falling away (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3).  Some would arguably say, it has happened several times throughout the church’s history. But to be totally honest, I did not think I would witness a great falling away from Christ, and the church in my lifetime [I am 42 years old]. Perhaps I was simply naïve; thinking because the community I grew up in showed respect for church goers and church property, everyone else did. Not long ago, it seemed like people wouldn’t dare show any disrespect towards the church. Smokers wouldn’t even light their cigarettes near the church. So, the thought of someone stealing copper from the church air conditioning units was unimaginable. A person shooting in the church? Never! It saddens me deeply that these deplorable acts are becoming common and the church may no longer be considered amongst the safest places in the community.

That being said, this is our reality and we have to do the best we can to keep people safe. The question is, do we care enough about Christ’ Church to do the work? Having armed security in the church serves as a deterrent, and it may minimize victims, but it doesn’t prevent incident. There are things we can do to prevent people from getting shot if we work together as a church family. We can undergo training that will help us become more aware of dangerous behaviors.  We can organize active shooter drills, and we can place people at strategic look-out areas.

Here’s the problem, the more we have to confront safety issues in the church the less people want to attend. In other words, people would rather not be bothered with any of it, and won’t show up at all.  People are already loaded with excuses for their spotty attendance. It is extremely difficult to keep people safe in the church when attendance is pitifully inconsistent. For example, how can we protect the church when appointed Look-Outs or Watch People are “twice a month” church goers? On any given Sunday, we don’t know who’s going to feel like coming to church. Missing key people is a real safety issue. Not to mention, how hard it is to pay trained security when attendance directly affects the budget. The church is only as safe as our commitment is to make it so. What we really need are people who care enough to keep the church safe.

We need “Lifers.” Lifers are people who love Christ so much that they have committed their lives to serving in the fellowship of those who believe in him. They may have been a part of more than one local congregation, but wherever Lifers serve they also commit. Church Lifers are decreasing in number each passing year. As I think about all the needs the church has today, I can’t help but mourn the decline of the Lifers that held it together for so long. We don’t need people in the church with guns as much as we need Lifers.

We can employ security, provide training opportunities and practice drills, but none of it matters if we don’t have people who care enough to dedicate their lives to the well-being of the church. If you want to know if the church is safe, here is your answer: The church is as safe as its members’ commitment.  So, don’t ponder if it is safe. Rather question, do we care enough to keep the church safe?

Here are some Church Emergency Response resources that can be used to help make the church safer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR_dHoEo0dg

https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/123184

https://www.fema.gov/faith-resources

Keep the Faith.

 

 

People simply do not like to be told what to do, or how to live. That is basically what it means to be stiff- necked. Time, and time again God referred to Israel as a stiff-necked people. We read in Acts 7:51 what the Lord says to the Sanhedrin by way of Deacon Stephen, “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!” These words are as relevant today as they were in the First Century. We simply do not want God to govern our lives, because we know God’s rule is disruptive. When God enters our life’s situations God seemingly always makes us uncomfortable. We always have to get up from where we are and do some rearranging of things. When God comes into our lives God will put in order what is in disorder. This will require some uncomfortable work on our part and we don’t like that. Let’s face it, no one wants to spend the required amount of time cleaning up a mess that has been growing for years. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people would rather live dysfunctional and reprobate instead of embrace the holy (set apart) life God intends for us.

Recall in scripture (Matthew 8:28-34) when Jesus visited the Gadarenes. The Gadarenes Jesus encountered were primarily Gentiles who earned a living farming pigs. These Gadarenes were living in fear, being bullied by two demon possessed men who blocked a key pathway. The Gadarenes lived in discomfort. They were being tormented by evil and their lives were unnecessarily harder because of it. So, Jesus cast the demons out of the two violent men and allowed the evil spirits to enter into a herd of swine. The whole herd rushed down a steep bank into the lake and died in the water. The locals were furious that they had lost a herd of pigs. It seemed that they could care less about being in the presence of one who has power to cast out demons. There was no rejoicing for the revival of the two possessed men. No one celebrated over the end of violence, fear, and inconvenience. Rather, the local Gadarenes’ focus was on the disruption Jesus Christ caused to their financial stability. The Gadarenes begged Jesus to leave! They would prefer to endure dysfunction and continue to live among the pig stench of evil than to have Jesus Christ stick around. In essence, the Gadarenes chose swine over Savior.

Like us, the Gadarenes valued material things above spiritual deliverance. Because of our determination to live how we want to live; without the counsel of the Holy Spirit, our world is operating in reprobate dysfunction. We are no different than our ancestors, a stiff-necked people. We have pleaded Jesus to leave our personal lives and we have forced him out of every public institution. Without Christ our world is demon possessed and violent. No one, in their right mind, wants to live this way. Perhaps, it is time to stop asking God to leave us alone. Instead we should plead Jesus to stick around. There will be work to do…a lot of cleaning and rearranging, but it will be far better living with a Savior than with swine.

[Read] Matthew 8:28-34

[Pray]:

Lord we magnify your Holy and righteous name. You are the Lord of Host and we adore you above all. We are a stiff-necked generation, full of sin. Yes Lord, I confess, I am a stiff-necked sinner too. I sincerely repent of my sins and ask that you look beyond my faults and see my needs. I know that at some point in my reprobate mind I asked you to leave me alone. Please forgive me Lord, for I knew not what I asked. Now I invite you back into my life. I beg of you to come into my life and stay. Make the changes that need to be made in my life and give me the strength to accept your Will. Set me apart from this world and be the Lord of my life. In the name of Jesus I plead this prayer. Amen.

Violence is inevitable when there is no hope of civil justice. This is why Lady Justice cannot be slothful and must act swiftly. For only the strong in faith can maintain the grip of hope in desperate times. If Lady Justice covers her eyes too long, failing to recognize the pain of the oppressed the people who are barely holding on will eventually let her go.   It is the weakest from among us that Lady Justice should concern herself with most. Our weakest, the ones who do not have the spiritual fortitude to cling tightly to the promises of God; Our weakest, the ones who quickly lose trust in our human capacity to overcome societal ills; Our weakest, those who choose violence as a means of resolution. It is our weakest members who need so desperately to see that justice is hard at work creating an egalitarian legal system that makes everybody feel worthy of dignity. For, it is our weakest members of society that are most likely to respond to oppressive violence with more violence.

We, as people of faith, pray for everyone who has lost their beloved at the hands of our weakest members of society, whom possess weapons that they are too immature to handle. We pray that God will forgive us for creating a world so vastly different from God’s design. We pray that we, God’s people who are called by God’s name will humble ourselves and pray and seek God’s face and turn from our wicked ways, so that God will hear from heaven, and forgive our sins and heal our land.