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, shares the stories of numerous individuals and groups which are looking for the darkest and dirtiest places on planet earth, and then going there intentionally to share the love of Jesus with the people they find.

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.”

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If we decide to join Jesus in storming the gates of hell, we will find something surprising when we get there. We will find a ragtag band of prostitutes, alcoholics, drug-addicts, murderers, and thieves, dancing and singing and laughing with Jesus.

It is a strange sight there at the gates of hell, but it is the way of Jesus.

Joy and laughter in the face of darkness and despair is one of the best ways to turn back the night and light a candle in the dark.

Jesus dances with harlots, shares meals with tax-collectors, laughs at the jokes of murderers, and drinks with alcoholics.

Meanwhile, we look on with disapproval. We get offended. Doesn’t Jesus know what they’ve done? Doesn’t He know He is just encouraging them? Doesn’t He know how it looks to hang out with such people?

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When we go to the gates of hell to battle for the lives of men and women who are trapped there, we go knowing that we will lose the battle. We lose the battle because losing is the only way to win.

When the church arrives at the gates of hell, we will do the same thing Jesus did in His life and ministry. We will die. We do not lay siege to the gates of hell to fight against the people we find there. We camp out at the gates of hell to love and serve the people who are trapped there.

When we follow Jesus to the hellish places on earth we will die to ourselves in the process. Our dreams, our hopes, our longings, our rights, our power, our money, our prestige, our authority, all gets discarded. Just as Jesus laid aside His honor and glory so that He might rescue us, He calls us to lay aside similar things so that we might rescue others.

Though he rightfully could have demanded service and worship from all, he served the lame and the sick by healing them, the demonized by delivering them, and the outcasts by befriending them. This is what the kingdom of God looks like. It looks like humility. It looks like grace. It looks like service. It looks like Jesus (The Myth of a Christian Nation).

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Great men and women of faith are those who follow God in running headlong toward hell.

Heroes of the Faith

Abraham was called to follow God to a foreign country, full of enemies and idol worshippers. Moses was told to return to the land which had a bounty on his head, and tell the ruler of that land to set free all his slaves. Joshua and Caleb saw opportunity and blessing where others saw only death and destruction. Judges like Gideon and Deborah went out against all odds to deliver people from enemies and idolatry. David went out against Goliath to protect Israel from bondage and captivity. All the prophets called the people of God back to obedience, mercy, and justice despite the threats from rulers, kings, and authorities.

And just because we run headlong with Jesus into hell does not mean we will escape with our lives. We may very well die in this desperate rescue mission.

John the Baptist was beheaded. Jesus went to the cross. Stephen was stoned to death. James the brother of Jesus was thrown off the temple tower and clubbed to death. Paul was imprisoned and beheaded. Peter was crucified upside down. Thomas was tortured, run through with spears, and then baked alive in an oven. Even today, many Christians in China, Africa, and the Middle East lose their lives as a result of following Jesus into the darkness.

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If running headlong into hell sounds dangerous, that’s because it is.

But Jesus never promised that following Him would be safe. Jesus never promised peace and security, but troubles, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword.

Following Jesus to the gates of hell does not include glitz and glamor, but sweat, pain, hardship, blood, and toil.

So why does the church spend so much time, money, and energy making sure all our buildings and services are “safe”?

When a church is properly following Jesus, church is anything but safe. Jesus sent the church into the middle of a warzone, and right to the front lines. But when we plan a church service, we want people to enjoy their time and go home with smiles on their faces. This sounds more like a weekend holiday cruise than a desperate rescue mission.

It is high time the church recognize that we are in a battle. We are at war and the earth is our battleground. War is messy, grimy, scary, and bloody. People get shot and wounded.

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When Jesus taught and ministered on earth, He did not simply tell people about a sweet by-and-by, where we could go when we die. That is not the hope of Christianity. That is not the message of Jesus.

Sure, life after death and eternal happiness with God in heaven is part of the gospel message, but it is not the only part—or even the main part.

The central message of Jesus was that in Him, heaven and earth were now being joined together. He was the nexus between God and man. In Him, heaven and earth were being rejoined and remade into one new creation of God. His message and His miracles indicated that this new creation had begun, but when Jesus left this earth and ascended back into heaven, He left to the church the task of finishing what He inaugurated.

It is the church’s task to take the Kingdom of Heaven and bear it with boldness and bravery into the meanest places on planet earth, to bring light to the darkness, healing to the sick, hope to the hopeless, and freedom to the captives.

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The reason we go to the hellish places on earth is so that we can transform hell into heaven.

Hell on earth can be redeemed, restored, and brought under the dominion of Jesus Christ.

Just as every person who believes in Jesus for eternal life is transferred from the living under the power of darkness and brought into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (Col 1:13), so also we who have been so delivered are to take the Kingdom of Heaven with us into the dark and hellish places on earth, so that those who are entrapped and enslaved can also be rescued and delivered.

Where is Hell?

We must not fall into the devilish trap of thinking that hell is only a place in the afterlife for the unredeemed. Hell is a very real place for millions of people who live right now on earth. Children are sold into sex slavery. Women are raped. Boys are forced to march and kill as soldiers. People are infected with HIV/AIDS or other terminal diseases. Millions face the hellish existence of extreme poverty, dirty water, infection, injustice, malnutrition, abuse, neglect, and violence.

There is only one good thing about the fact that so many people live in hells like these: they can still be rescued.

Invite People to Hell

So let us go! Let us stop going to church, and take the church to hell instead. How about preaching this message: “We’re going to hell! Want to come along?” or “So you want to follow Jesus? Go to hell!”

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If we want to follow Jesus in storming the gates of hell, we must begin by looking at the world around us, and discovering the places that are filled with darkness. It is there that we will find Jesus.

There is a picture of God in the Old Testament that sometimes troubles Christians. In various passages, God is described as being the God of darkness, or of dwelling in darkness (Psa 18:11; 97:2). Usually, we think of God as being the God of light and Satan being the prince of darkness. So how can Scripture say that our God is the God of darkness and that He dwells in darkness?

Does this mean that God has an evil side? Does it mean that there is sin with God? May it never be! “God is light! In Him there is no darkness at all!” (1 John 1:5). So what does Scripture mean when it speaks of the God of darkness?

The two passages where this idea is mentioned seem to provide some clues. In Psalm 18, the Psalmist is facing death, and as he goes down into the grave, it is there, in the darkness, that He encounters God. The aspect of God that the Psalmist encounters is not the loving God of peace and love, but a God with smoke coming out of His nostrils and fire from His mouth. He sent hailstones, coals of fire, lightning, and arrows to scatter and defeat His foes. The image, it is clear, reveals our God at war.

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