Onward, Forward, Toward…

I was forwarded by e-mail a copy of J. Lee Grady’s latest column entitled “Shifting from ‘Professional’ to ‘Relational’ Christianity” that had the following things to say:

Shifting from ‘Professional’ to ‘Relational’ Christianity

In many ways the American church has become more like a business. We must shift from power suits and CEOs to wet feet and holy kisses.

Last month during a luncheon for pastors and church leaders in suburban Baltimore I called five people to the front of the room and asked them to sit in chairs facing the group. Then I called some other leaders to kneel in front of them and wash their feet.

The five people represented five groups that have been overlooked and underserved in the American church: women, African-Americans, immigrants, businesspeople and the younger generation. As their shoes came off, tears began to flow freely. Words were not necessary.

I washed the last pair of feet, which belonged to a young pastor named Danny. He is just getting started in his ministry. He was crying by the time I dried his toes with a dishtowel from the church’s kitchen.

It was one of those fidgety, uncomfortable moments when no one knows exactly how to act. After all, in the corporate world we don’t take off our shoes in front of our co-workers. We don’t expose our weaknesses or make ourselves vulnerable. We keep our ties straight and we shake hands to close deals. We stay in control.

And we make sure to maintain a proper, professional distance between one another. That’s the American way. Stiff, cold, dignified and detached.

Yet Jesus modeled something different. When He washed His disciples’ feet on the night He was betrayed, He used the imagery of that awkward moment to teach volumes about the values of the kingdom of God. By stripping Himself of His rabbinical robes and donning the garments of a slave, He called each of us to shed the religious pride that keeps us arms’ distance from each other.

By assuming the role of a household servant, Jesus drastically redefined leadership. It was no longer about being over people, but under them. And by taking those smelly feet in His hands and washing off the dust, grime and dung of Jerusalem, He called leaders to engage people on an intimate and transparent level that no rabbi in Israel’s history had ever demonstrated.

There was nothing formal or ceremonial about the first foot washing. Jesus was calling us all to a place of raw authenticity. He was saying, in effect, that true leaders must shed their power suits and clerical collars if they truly intend to impact people on a deep level.

That same genuine, unpretentious attitude marked the ministry of the apostle Paul. He told the Thessalonians: “Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us” (1 Thess. 2:8 NASB). Paul often gushed to his followers about his feelings for them; and he wasn’t afraid to show his love in “unprofessional” ways.

Paul was not aloof. Like Jesus, he lived among the people. He didn’t wait until praise and worship was over to enter the meeting. He didn’t get whisked away to a special parlor after the service. He poured his life into his followers by eating with them, laughing with them and sharing their burdens.

And he often urged the saints to “greet one another with a holy kiss” (Rom. 16:16). When he said goodbye to his followers in Ephesus, the Bible says he gave a heartfelt farewell speech that ended with hugs, kisses and a lot of sobbing (see Acts 20:36-37). For Paul, Christian love was not a lofty doctrine or a stuffy principle; it was wet, slobbery and extravagantly affectionate.

Why don’t many of us experience this level of Christian affection today? Why has our love been reduced to stiff handshakes, nonchalant pats on the back and insincere flattery? Perhaps in this overly sexualized age we are afraid affection will lead to something inappropriate. Maybe we figure that kisses can no longer be holy, or that they will lead to frivolous lawsuits.

I think there is a deeper cause. Perhaps we have allowed the sophisticated culture of the business world to invade God’s house. After all, many of our churches have evolved into mega-corporations—with our own CEOs, controllers, administrators, tax codes, dress codes, office hours and private jets—and even bodyguards! In such a stuffy atmosphere, genuine love can turn lukewarm.

How desperately we need to strip off our sophisticated religious garb and get real. People are aching to see a demonstration of God’s honest-to-goodness love, and the only place they will ultimately find it is among the followers of the “Foot Washer.”

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. His previous columns are archived at www.fireinmybones.com.

What really piqued my attention was these two paragraphs:

Last month during a luncheon for pastors and church leaders in suburban Baltimore I called five people to the front of the room and asked them to sit in chairs facing the group. Then I called some other leaders to kneel in front of them and wash their feet.

The five people represented five groups that have been overlooked and under served in the American church: women, African-Americans, immigrants, business people and the younger generation. As their shoes came off, tears began to flow freely. Words were not necessary.

I really do not understand this particular comment of the article and it really baffles me. The main reason why it baffles me is because where I live, the churches seek out prominent businessmen and people with careers in the financial / banking / sales / marketing / political / real estate sectors as members.

When I was church searching years ago and visiting other churches, I would visit churches and after the services, the ‘hospitality’ group would approach me to ‘welcome’ me and find out more about me. One of the first questions was:

What do you do for a living?

When I gave them my non - self-owned business / financial / banking / sales / marketing / political / real estate sector career profession (I guess engineering is seen by them as low-income), the smiles, greetings, and warmth turned into cold-stares and frowns and proceeded to the quick ‘nice to meet you’ handshake and walking away from me to meet the next visitor that they spent ten minutes with in conversation. Walking out to the parking lot and analyzing all of this before driving off moments later. I would find out later in the parking lot that they owned a business, sold real estate, or worked as an ‘financial advisor’ by the magnetic signs on their vehicles as they got into them and drove off.

It was selectivism. The ‘professional’ church wanted money and shunned those with little to no money. The ‘emergental’ church wants a great story/storyteller and shuns those who earnestly wants the Truth via scriptures/ Anointed Man of God. The ‘relational’ church needs Jesus and not even think about having to make a selection

It was as if the church wanted people who could have easy access to money in order to have access to money if the church ran out or grossly mismanaged their finances. In fact, I will really wonder if church finances got into a jam and they asked for money if the church would resort to pragmatic means and hint to these people in the self-owned business / financial / banking / sales / marketing / political / real estate sector career professions to somehow ‘by any means necessary legal/illegal ‘ to generate some cash flow and make a contribution to the church?

Also, I have noticed that when ‘attacks / tragedies’ happened to those in the self-owned business / financial / banking / sales / marketing / political / real estate sector career professions, it was viewed as ‘Great Satan’s Grand Attack’. However, when the attacks/tragedies came upon people in the non self-owned business / financial / banking / sales / marketing / political / real estate sector career professions, then the ‘lack faith / secret sin / disagreeing with TBN / you must have voted Democrat / touching God’s anointing ‘excuses’ and ‘calls for repentance’ were to blame.

Did the church (and church people) enact a “proper, professional distance between one another’ as Grady states or was it really “Selective Professional Seeking”? If the church (and church people) who became the masters at “Selective Professional Seeking” are now supposed to migrate over to a ‘relational’ church, will the barrier of a “proper, professional distance between one another’ as Grady states be eliminated or will the wall be lifted up as the church learns the ‘new art’ of “Selective Relational Seeking”? Instead of a niche market and demographics of people in the self-owned business / financial / banking / sales / marketing / political / real estate sectors, will we now create the ‘new niche’ where people of like-minded interests will be ‘welcomed’ and those of differencing interests be shunned and given the cold shoulder?

I earnestly desire and want ‘relational’ Christianity. However, it must be ‘real’ and not ‘really redundant and really repetitive’ when compared to the ‘professional mentality’. As money fueled the ‘professional’ Christianity, we can not allow any ‘object’ to be the fuel of the ‘relational’ Christianity. It must be Jesus Christ first and foremost.