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Asked what is wrong with the world today, G.K. Chesterton allegedly responded with just two words: “I am.”
The famous writer’s response offers a powerful lesson to a generation of Christians who grew up watching their churches stumble through the culture wars, neglect social justice, or bungle questions about marriage and family. It’s easy for Christians in the Millennial generation constantly to criticize the Church and become cynical. We’ve seen and often are seeing the flaws of today’s Christianity. And many of us have become experts at pointing out these flaws.
When I talk to older Christians in my church, it can be tempting for me to write off their perspectives and their advice as merely oversimplified or judgmental. Our generation is great at leaning on our peers to help us work through our problems—but not so much on the Christians who aren’t like us. We seem to assume that somehow the challenges we face are unique, unprecedented and cannot be solved by leaning on the traditional advice of Christians from another era or another culture.
Many friends of mine who have grown up going to church and perhaps attended a Christian college have an impulse to critique. I run across articles online all the time that just point out things that the American church has gotten wrong. We get dating wrong. We get sexuality wrong. We get racial issues wrong. We rush to judgment about #BlackLivesMatter—or about Donald Trump’s evangelical supporters. We condemn a movie like God’s Not Dead, or maybe Deadpool. The list goes on.
Many of these critiques are accurate and necessary. But they can also cultivate a subtle sense of pride and aloofness.
Continued below.
relevantmagazine.com
The famous writer’s response offers a powerful lesson to a generation of Christians who grew up watching their churches stumble through the culture wars, neglect social justice, or bungle questions about marriage and family. It’s easy for Christians in the Millennial generation constantly to criticize the Church and become cynical. We’ve seen and often are seeing the flaws of today’s Christianity. And many of us have become experts at pointing out these flaws.
When I talk to older Christians in my church, it can be tempting for me to write off their perspectives and their advice as merely oversimplified or judgmental. Our generation is great at leaning on our peers to help us work through our problems—but not so much on the Christians who aren’t like us. We seem to assume that somehow the challenges we face are unique, unprecedented and cannot be solved by leaning on the traditional advice of Christians from another era or another culture.
Many friends of mine who have grown up going to church and perhaps attended a Christian college have an impulse to critique. I run across articles online all the time that just point out things that the American church has gotten wrong. We get dating wrong. We get sexuality wrong. We get racial issues wrong. We rush to judgment about #BlackLivesMatter—or about Donald Trump’s evangelical supporters. We condemn a movie like God’s Not Dead, or maybe Deadpool. The list goes on.
Many of these critiques are accurate and necessary. But they can also cultivate a subtle sense of pride and aloofness.
Continued below.
The Church Needs Your Humility, Not Just Your Criticism - RELEVANT
Asked what is wrong with the world today, G.K. Chesterton allegedly responded with just two words: “I am.” The famous writer’s response offers a powerful
relevantmagazine.com
