Is Religion out, and Relationships in?
There is a growing perception, especially among my generation, that religion is bad and that it is ruining the message of the Gospel. Though I sympathize with my generation, I find myself disagreeing with them on a few levels. I fear that in their zeal to reach the culture of the "now," they have forgotten to remember the importance of history, and therefore may make an equal number of mistakes if they are not careful.
This pull away from religion is based on an assumption that "Christian Religion" has done nothing but start wars, forget the poor, and seek to become prosperous among "capitalist republicans." They have a lot to say on the ways religion has failed, but also disregard the many ways it has succeeded. This is where the term, "it's not a religion, it's a relationship," might come from as well as some popular Youtube channels with titles like, "Why I hate religion, but love Jesus." but I do not believe these terms are an all inclusive reflection of Christ's ministry.
If Jesus came to preach that "it is not about the law, it is about relationships," then why did he say, "I have not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." (Matthew 5:17). Neither do we as Christians on either side of the spectrum seek to throw out the Old Testament to champion the New. Therefore, I think the same principle should be applied to today. We do not burn the Old Testament just because the pharisees abused it, so also we should not throw out religion because it has suffered abuse over time. However, I would not go so far and say that Jesus was not about relationships, because he certainly was, but I would like to pen the term, "This is a Religion of Relationships."
So what must be done? I call on the pastors of my generation to learn from the mistakes of previous generations while at the same time learning from their successes. It is actually rather funny that we tend glorify the Church of Acts as the ultimate goal for today, but do we really want to turn back 2000 years of history and start over? This is a new day calling for a new Church, but it must be a church built upon the foundation of those who got it right. Only then can we hope to reach our culture where they stand. The alternative, digging a new foundation, may only result in years of relearning all that which has already been learned. I fear those who try are wasting their time.
Thoughts from the reading of Deep Church by Belcher
