I am not a gifted thinker.
I don’t say that to be humble, nor because of some fantasy about
belittlingly myself. No, I just love creative
thinkers; and I know I'm not one. There are some tremendously
gifted people like Tim Keller, John Piper and of
course C.S. Lewis that I’m often
mouth-droppingly amazed at.
Today I add another to the
list Dr. Rosaria Champagne Butterfield.
In reading her book: The
Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, I read her extremely
thought-provoking analysis of a situation that many of us face in Christian
ministry.
You have heard it I’m sure:
“Pastor, I just haven’t found fellowship in your church.”
In the past we have had to handle this. Usually, as a member of a humble and
conscientious council of elders, we have looked within at the multitude of
weaknesses and failures of the church body – of us! But there is more to the story. Note the intuition
of Dr. Butterfield:
Over the years, I have
contemplated what this really means. What does it really mean to “lack
fellowship”? At least as it regards the handful of families that showed
immediate excitement and then after a month a changed heart, this is what
“lacking fellowship” means. It means that the family needs to be in a church
made up of people who are just like they, who raise their children using the
same childrearing methods, who take the same stance on birth control,
schooling, voting, breastfeeding, dress codes, white flour, white sugar,
gluten, childhood immunizations, the observance of secular and religious
holidays. We encountered families who feared diversity with a primal fear. They
often told us that they didn’t want to “confuse” their children by exposing
them to differences in parenting standards among Christians. I suspect that
they feared that deviation from their rules might provide a window for children
to see how truly diverse the world is and that temptation might lead them
astray . . .
. . . Here is what I
think. I believe that there is no greater enemy to vital life-breathing faith
than insisting on cultural sameness. When fear rules your theology, God is
nowhere to be found in your paradigm, no matter how many Bible verses you tack
onto it.[1]
This is stunning!
Allow a few of her thoughts to arrest you and land like a hammer on an
anvil. Now before you comment, I know there are good and godly reasons to withdraw from a church. But Dr. Butterfield does hit a sensitive nerve with this one.
The positive response is that
people who don’t mind diversity; people who are at such peace with God and their
convictions – have no lack of fellowship.
When fear rules your
theology, God is nowhere to be found in your paradigm, no matter how many Bible
verses you tack onto it.
Thought-provoking isn’t it?
[1] Butterfield,
Rosaria Champagne (2014-10-09). The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert:
Expanded Edition (Kindle Locations 2108-2119). Crown & Covenant
Publications. Kindle Edition.
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