Thermostat or Social Club?
Dr. King has a number of timeless quotes – or at least ones that, despite 40+ years, are still extremely timely. Here’s one of them:
There was a time when the church was very powerful-in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. . . . But the judgment of God is upon the church [today] as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the 20th century. (Letter from a Birmingham Jail, p. 17)
The kind of church that Dr. King talks about here is the kind of church I want to be a part of and the direction in which I will lead any church of which I am a part (no matter what part). Don’t say you weren’t warned.
From Mission Safari Via Church Marketing Sucks
Cannot agree more. For some of us I would cynically say that suffering is having to put money in the plate each week. But seriously, Christianity (churchianity) is so much about ‘me’, programmed and pitched at ‘me’ that I am encouraged to then believe that I am God’s blessings deposit box! Yet God told Abraham that you are blessed to be a blessing. Ok so I am talking more about acute selfishness and I think your quote is speaking more about suffering but I think one is a good indicator of our capacity for the other.
Good one Matt and thanks for the CSS tip for my page. Hope I can work it through!
Dr. King speaks of how the church should be a transforming influence in the world. The church becomes an irrelevant social club when we allow ourselves to define ourselves rather than being defined by God in mission.
Unless we are defined by the missio Dei, we are irrelevant. Period.