Shane Claiborne went to India to work with lepers. They are the rejects and outcasts of Indian society. Speaking of that experience, Shane said this:
I knew what Jesus meant when he told Peter that the ‘gates of hell would not prevail’ against the church, as I was finally seeing a church that was storming the gates of hell itself to save people from its horrors (The Irresistible Revolution
).
Shane discovered what all other men and women of faith understand: that heaven is best found when we head toward hell, that Jesus is most active where death abounds, and grace and mercy shine brightest in the darkness of sin. That is why he and his community, The Simple Way, sought out the worst and most crime-filled area of Philadelphia, and then sought to redeem and transform it with acts of love, mercy, and kindness.
They are not the only ones taking the church to hell. Gabe Lyons, in his book The Next Christians,
He writes about Gary Haugen who founded the International Justice Mission to target sex trafficking.
He writes about Mike Foster who set up a booth at the adult entertainment expo in Las Vegas and handed out Bibles with hot pink and yellow covers with this message on the cover: “Jesus Loves Porn Stars.”
Gabe says that for Christians who want to bring the light of the gospel to a dark and dying world, “running away is not an option.”
Quite to the contrary of running away, Craig Gross argues in his book, The Gutter,
No, as followers of Jesus, we leave our homes of comfort and ease, and go live with those who are alone and hurting in the gutters of life. Craig writes that going to the gutter of life “isn’t just a chance to take a peep around, throw out some Gospel tracts, and then head home. If that’s your mindset, then please don’t even go at all.”
The church is called to go to hell.
We must feel the heat of its flames, smell the smoke of its fire, see the tears of its victims, and hear their cries of pain. We must camp out at the gates of hell, and not leave until every person has been rescued. We must stay there, live there, build friendships there, and do whatever it takes to rescue people from darkness and bring them into the kingdom of God’s mercy and love.
This is the radical mission of Jesus. And if the church is going to join Jesus in this task, some of the radical changes which have been suggested in this book may be necessary. Some of these changes may result in the destruction of the church as we know it. It may feel like your church is dying. But if these changes allow us to accomplish the mission of Jesus and live out the gospel as followers of Jesus in this world, then the church has not died, but risen to new life.
If we close our church so we can better accomplish the mission and purposes of Jesus, we have closed our church for good!
[This post is part of a series called “To Hell with the Church” which will form a chapter in my forthcoming book, Close Your Church for Good. To get a free copy when it comes out, subscribe now.]
Yes, the church is called to do this. We have lived in the worst neighborhoods in the city. One caveat, however – Not everyone who is alone, hurting and in the gutters of life lives in the worst neighborhoods. While we as followers of Jesus definitely need a presence in the worst places, we also need a presence in every neighborhood.
A strange thing I have noticed – Those who were never involved with their neighbors in a middle class neighborhood who moved to the worst/poorest neighborhood in the city usually end up with similar relationships in the new neighborhood. Perhaps they know a few people well, but fail to get to really know most of their neighbors.
I suggest getting to know the neighbors we have now really well – not just their names, but their joys, their cares, their sorrows. Once we’ve got that down, some of us will be called to go to the bad neighborhoods. It’s not for everyone.
We lived in one neighborhood where almost all of our neighbors were either prostitutes or drug dealers, and another where gunfire, murders and fire bombings were routine. The last few months we lived there, there were three murders in the street within a block of our house, one firebombing, a shootout between the police on the side of our house, our car was stolen, and a mob surrounded the house next to us chanting “burn baby burn”. (We left for a couple of hours. When we returned, the mob had left and the house was still standing.)
Great insight. I loved the Starving Jesus book.
Ironically, at the church I visited in LA Sunday, a member of the Singles ministry got up and before the offering, told everyone about how his small group had committed to “living like the poor” for one week. He explained that they didn’t spend any money, except to pay their bills and no one snacked at work or went to the movies or out to eat. THAT was how they “lived like the poor.”
It about made me sick to my stomach. There are arguably more homeless people in this area than anywhere else in the US. People who sleep on the street, surrounded by piles of trash, begging for a quarter, desperate for any food. I am living in my car and I consider myself highly blessed compared to those poor souls. But these 20-something’s didn’t get their Starbucks and considered themselves sacrificing.
What’s worse… I did the same thing when I was their age.
The church needs to wake up.
Paul you make a great point, it takes years for some to “get it”, it’s only through the eyes of Jesus Christ can we really see anything and by the presence of the Holy Spirit will we be moved to go ANYWHERE. When we are “moved ” do we really MOVE? Jeremy thanks for the article and we will be asking ourselves for God to break our hearts with what breaks his.