I was recently given an interesting letter to read. And so, as I can and will, I need to comment on it so to see if your blood will boil as much as mine did and does when I know there is propaganda out there like this. See, when you are a part of a church community, you have the option of joining that church, thus supporting that place with time, talent, and money. The church in return is to minister to you and your family as best as it can. Well, that's the most simple textbook definition I can come with. You most likely get giving envelopes, the newsletter, and "important" mailings that come your way regularly. Now, I hate the term "member" to define the term of one who chooses to associate themselves with a church. It sounds as if I am all of a sudden joining the damn country club...which sadly, sometimes churches act as if they are just that. The last church I was serving, one of the very first questions the senior pastor asked me was, "So, do you think you are going to join the country club?" Mind you, the fee for it was like $1900 a year or some lavish amount like that. I mentioned that I would rather give that money to the poor and hungry. He seemed amused at my answer, as if that was something he had never thought of before!

Associating yourself with a church community should not be seen as "membership." Churches who are serious about having people come into the community, should teach people that they are disciples; people learning how to be who Jesus calls them to be, and everything that comes along with that. People should be taught how to see their lives through a lens of faith in a way that asks them to think about others beginning with how to think about someone other than themselves! See, churches should not assume that people have this faith thing all figured out. It is the church's fault if people are not being taught how to place their feet into the footprints of Jesus leading. People need to be given room and space to learn how to see their faith and work it out. But, churches also need to give people some tools.

What I am saying is that if churches are these places that are meant to train people for living out their faith and giving them a better sense of hope around them, sometimes these churches don't always do that so well. People come and go in churches...reality! Certain churches need to relax, because when people leave because of this or that, don't take it so personally. Maybe you failed them, and so they felt a need to leave because they need something more to chew on rather than the rigid and inflexible ways of seeing through your particular lens.

Let me give you the example that was given to me a few weeks ago by some friends. This letter is from a Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod church around where I live. The letter was sent out to presumably folks who have not been to this church for some time, and it was sent out to remind them of that. Let me quote this thing for you:

"We are truly concerned that you have not come to church in a long time. You have not heard God's Word in worship through the lessons and sermon, nor have you publicly praised Him in song and prayer, nor confessed your faith in Him with fellow Christians through the Creeds and joint worship. That is why we are writing this letter with a simple request. Are you able to come to worship and Bible Class? Do you plan to come to worship and Bible Class on a routine basis? If you are able to attend, then please come now as you promised on your confirmation day, and as you learned in the Third Commandment...We are not writing this letter to be harsh or rude or to give you a hard time, but we are writing it as we, the lay ministry board, church council, and Voters are very concerned with you, your soul, and your faith, and where you will spend eternity. Jesus warns , "the reason you don't hear my voice, is that you don't belong to me" (John 8)."

OK, this is where it gets really good! The letter finally closes with these sentences:

"If we don't hear from you by _____, WE WILL TAKE THAT TO MEAN THAT "YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT BEING A MEMBER AT ______, NOR A MEMBER OF CHRIST'S EARTHLY CHURCH AND A FOLLOWER OF OUR LORD JESUS ANYMORE." Which would be grounds for excommunication, which means that your name will be removed from church membership and that if you stand before God through death or His return, you would be locked out of heaven, and suffer eternity in hell for unbelief."

What kind of awful, hurtful, exclusive shit is this? It makes me so angry that churches out there use this kind of scare tactic to remind already hurting people that their eternal futures are questionable! This crap is dished out and unfortunately, people buy into it. Putting fear into people's hearts are not going to get them back into your doors again. It will only drive them further away from your venue of fear. I have read this letter over and over, and there are NO tones of love or grace, or welcome at all. I read nothing but judgment and threat. This particular letter disturbs me. I wonder what kind of people would write such a letter. And, who in their disturbed mind actually attends this church and is OK with such a terrible theology of exclusion? It would be interesting to see how many people this church takes in versus how many of people this church hemorrhages out. Maybe people leave because they have to. Maybe they are sickened by a church's exclusive self-understanding of righteousness. It's so stupid. But, then again, even evil people can be dressed up as pastors and lead whole churches of people who are deceived by the ease of evil. How hard hearted for this church to assume they know what's best. The devil also thinks this too. I say resist, and he will flee!

See, I know how difficult it can be to keep track of all the people a church takes in. People come and go, and you want to make sure that people don't get lost in the mix. If they feel like they are not valued, noticed, or connected in a community, they will leave. If a church is not giving them tools to make sense of a faith lens that is wide enough to see how much love the world needs, then that church is failing to be faithful to the gospel. People have the right to leave if that church is not the most loving place possible for them. They can and should leave if that church is not doing everything it can to grow that person in a healthy, holistic way. People are going to come and go because Jesus has an uncanny way of sometimes thinning out the crowds as his teachings get more difficult. People will come and go to listen to him, but how many will actually stick around and follow Jesus because they really want to? If that church frankly, sucks at being a community of grace, welcome, redemption, and healing, it should be abandoned and left for dead!

Why mislead people only to make yourselves even more self-righteous? People's souls are at stake yes, but I would rather people commit themselves to a church that actually cares compassionately and empathetically for their souls than tears them apart by deceiving them. This letter reminds me why people leave churches with relief. People leave because churches can become a place that evokes hurt and mistrust as the leadership (senior pastors most of the time) cares more for his own reputation as a leader than he does for the people who pay his salary. Then again, maybe churches are simply a venue where hate and anger and resentment are alive and aggressively taking over its ethos regardless of how nice or good a pastor might be. That church's DNA is one of suspicion, which its own people have willingly built upon generation after generation. Churches like this need to die now, before others are hurt in its wake of purposely hurting its people. More later...