Is your church relevant in the face of the overwhelming issues of our day? Is there not only comfort in the midst of pain... but hope, healing, reconciliation, justice and wholeness?
Are you in touch with these 21st Century concerns? ...Or are you (and your church) in a “bubble of personal perception” while major issues and concerns that drastically effect people’s lives flood all around you?
Most churches are actively responding in some way to the historic concerns of Homelessness and Hunger. A few are caring for people with ministries such as Prayer shawls, Quilts, caps for babies, etc. or actively supporting a local school. Some continue to raise funds for distant poverty related projects.
These are all great things to do
But there is a Tsunami of issues, wave upon wave of overwhelming situations that are rising faster than we can cope with them. Congregations are often "frozen" in trying to deal with them.
As we open up after the pandemic, the temptation (and the danger) is that we return to the same activities that we had before covid.
But the world has changed dramatically just since the 20th Century. (Yikes... that was over 20 years ago!)
The people around us live in a vastly different and crisis inhabited place. The issues now before us in 2021 are dramatic, enormous and are reshaping our society before our very eyes.
Below, not in any specific order, are the concerns people have shared as effecting - stressing - their lives. (Please note: This is not a ranking of importance. Different people will see different issues as more crucial than others. It all depends on the immediate needs they are facing.)
Digital/Tech/Knowledge Revolution:
• Digital / Tech (This changes everything!) - There is no escape from the digital change happening around us. “Screen time” has multiplied exponentially and computer chips are to be found embedded in our society everywhere. Nothing, no one is immune.
• Education - A major shift in priorities, expanding K-12 public education into Preschool – early College is underway. Society’s economic future and our political health needs critical thinkers who are wise and well-informed and share a common base of morals as well as a shared reality.
Personal/Family Struggles:
• Consumerism & Greed - The "Purpose for living", our very meaning of life has been cruelly defined as the accumulation of things. From people to cars to houses filled with “stuff”, this “good life” has become our society’s driving force in a "Consumer Economy."
• Personal Identity - (including Sexual Identity and Sexualization of Society): The Sexualization and Objectification of people in our society has been going on for at least 100 years. Sexual freedom along with sex trafficking, pornography and other sexual abuses surround us.
• “Survival” Struggles - Family Relationships, Finances, Jobs and Job uncertainty have become much more complex and difficult. Covid is not only a disease, but a contributor to intensify Domestic violence, Dysfunctional relationships, Transactional “objectifying” love.
• Healthcare (including Childcare & Elder Care) - The centuries long problem of affordable health care from basic health and food security to hospitalization, medication and the deeply consuming care for the young and the elderly challenge all but the richest families.
Social/Political/Global Issues:
• The Covid-19 Pandemic – A Medical Health crisis, an Economic crisis and a Mental Health Crisis that has major consequences for Schools, Hospitals, and all large gatherings.
• Racism, Racial Reconciliation & Policing – The “original sin” of the U.S.A. (and of the world) is dominating the news and the hearts and minds of many people. Can we finally, honestly and with integrity, address our racism: past, present and future?
• Political Divisiveness - Alternative “world views” and “Opinionation” reflect the deep divisions in our country. Families and neighborhoods are divided. A mob stormed the Capital to stop a Constitutional mandated activity. Compromise seems unreachable.
• Poverty, Hunger & Homelessness - While more in the news, the problem of poverty, along with Food insecurity and sub-sustainable wages and homelessness remains difficult to solve.
• Global Warming and Sustainability of Civilization - The realization that the reality of life altering global damage caused by human activity is reaching the tipping point. It has the world’s attention.
Pervasive Consequence: Lack of Trust:
• Chronic Lack of Trust - For over 25 years, a pervasive, foundational, lack of trust in many of the institutions in our society has been growing.
In 2018, only the Military (74%), Small Business (67%) and the Police (54%) rise above the 50% mark of public trust. Most, including the church, are below 40%.
(https://bit.ly/3fC4dXp https://bit.ly/3f8yb6o) “The Church or Organized Religion” alone has fallen from 68% to 38%)
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Perhaps you can think of more issues including local issues that confront those around you.
As "Citizens of Heaven" (Phil 3:20) we, like God, have hearts open to all these issues as we seek to bring the unconditional love, forgiveness and reconciliation of God in Jesus Christ into each and every one of them.
This “Brave New World” of our making IS being redeemed by a loving God and we are part of that restorative effort. But it is clearly overwhelming! No one can do it alone.
In next week's article, (2 of 2) we’ll explore an “Ancient/Future” way of addressing the needs that our individuals, families, neighborhoods and society face...
...and how the church community can be not only a place of safety, healing, and reconciliation but one of change, justice and empowerment in God’s holy realm.
Watch for it! (Subscribe to this blog to get the notices.)
(Additional resources to address these issues are found at: www.agapejourneys.com )
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