When Church Takes Your Breath Away

Over the years that I have been writing this blog I have tried, in a small way, to pull back the curtains and to let people know what sorts of things go on in a church. I’m very conscious that, for many people in our society, churches are a bit like hairdressers. There are loads of them, all across our towns and cities, and you pass them without paying any attention to them or what goes on inside.

When I tell people what I do, quite often they crack the joke about how marvellous it is to have a job where you work just one day of the week. For many people, that is their perception if they haven’t really had any engagement with the local church. The church is seen as a building, often with walls and gates around it, and it spends a fair proportion of the week locked in many contexts.

What I try to do is reveal that there is a lot more going on outside the walls, as people live out their faith in their daily lives. When they go to their jobs in a whole variety of locations and environments, when they go to school or university, when they care for a spouse or parent or child who requires constant help and support because of health or memory issues, that’s where the church is most visible and powerfully on the move. We see it in the way Christians speak and act both in public and in private, and often that is how the world judges or gauges the effectiveness of what Jesus has done or who He is.

Quite often, in trying to share how having a faith has brought hope and meaning and purpose to my life, I will try to explain the difference God’s presence has made in times of trouble. If I have gone through the sadness of grief, if I have been stressed or worried about family or work or circumstances, God’s presence and peace have made a great difference in those crunch moments. I sometimes talk about the value and importance of prayer, or the lift to the spirits when you hear people singing praise to God through church music in all its forms.

I sometimes speak about the value and care and love I have experienced through being part of a church community. There’s something very powerful about the way people care for and support one another that I have never found to quite the same level or degree in any other organisation I have been part of.

Last Sunday’s service, however, was a different kind of experience altogether.

We had a speaker from the organisation Open Doors. Open Doors is an organisation that works with the persecuted church around the world. We, maybe, associate persecution in this part of the world with people making nasty comments, or mocking our beliefs when we don’t seem to have straightforward answers to the complexities of life.

In other parts of the world like Nigeria and Somalia, which we heard about last Sunday, we discovered that the decision to follow Jesus would often cost people their life. In the Northern part of Nigeria, Fulani herdsmen and Islamic militants will burn churches, Christian homes and businesses. Church services will often be invaded by gunmen who will seek to massacre as many people as they can. Even when people try to meet to worship in secret, many don’t know who to trust. Family members will disown those who have converted to Christianity and share information with others who might well seek to slaughter them.

In the magazine, which I was given after the service, I read about how the Christian church is under state surveillance and how the invitation to come to tea with the authorities often meant having your possessions seized and the possibility of imprisonment on fabricated charges of spying or treason against the state.

It’s this level of persecution which is affecting 1 in 7 Christians across the world. The speaker challenged us very directly to put ourselves in that position, whereby we might be asked to choose between following Jesus and imprisonment or even death. If we were not confident of choosing Jesus maybe we should reevaluate how our relationship with him is? It was not a comfortable, easy listen.

Many people, including myself, would prefer our faith to be something comforting and reassuring, something that is easy to engage with and to take on board. The plight of the persecuted church around the world, which involves economic hardship, kidnap, forced marriages, imprisonment and even death, remind us that, just as it was for Jesus, to follow in His footsteps may require our all.

What was powerful to hear about, however, was how the church is growing in those places. Many pastors and Christian believers would say as they went out in the morning, if I don’t come home today I will see you in the next life. There was a recognition that this choice may be one that cost people their lives, but they had found that to be a price worth paying as they looked forward to eternity with Christ.

Can we ask you please to hold in your prayers the families of Ray Hamilton, Alice Rea and Jean McMillan, who died recently. Alice’s funeral takes place in Clarke’s funeral home in Newtownards on Wednesday 8th July, and Jean’s funeral service is as yet to be confirmed. We remember these families in their sad loss.

Don’t forget our community picnics will take place on Tuesdays from 5.30-7.30pm in the church grounds until the end of July. Just bring a picnic and enjoy the opportunity to meet your neighbours and enjoy the grounds.

The blog and podcast will be taking a break for the next few weeks, but looking forward to speaking again soon.

Much love to everyone,

Jono.

Listen to the latest episode of ‘Bitesize Chunks of Faith’