"Sanctuary"...

 I haven't blogged in awhile, mainly because I don't do it because I have to, but because I want to.  I felt that I needed to put my focus in other areas, so I took a break.  What I am going to post here today, though, is not my own thoughts, just something that I agree with, something that we are striving to do and create at GFMC.  I have found it very profound and deep... and right on the mark.  I have included the link to the actual online magazine this comes from, if you'd simply rather read it there.  Well, here goes...

"Sanctuary", by Doug Newton

In America perhaps only 20-25 percent of the population goes to church regularly, even though surveys say it's in the 45-50 percent range.  Most social scientists don't believe the surveys  [I, personally, don't either! JG].  They argue that a so-called "social desirability bias skews the facts, because people tend to answer questions according to what they think they should be doing, rather than what they are doing.

So, it's only 20-25 percent.  But the picture is bleaker than that.  How many of that shrinking minority attend a real church--one that functions the way Jesus intends the church to function?  Not many.  Here's why.

One word that captures the heart of what Jesus wants the church to be is "sanctuary."  Unfortunately, most congregations focus on building spaces that have a sanctuary.  Jesus is more concerned that we build spaces that offer sanctuary.

When our daughters were for and six, we brought two African men into our home who had fled political persecution in their home countries.  When we met them at the airport, they couldn't speak a word of English.  It was hard for all of us, but they were safe.  They found sanctuary with us.

That's what churches are supposed to do--very similar to what God did through Noah and the ark.  People who had no hope outside the ark found life and a future by being in the ark.  Did you know the name "Noah" is thought to mean comfort?

That's what sanctuary is supposed to mean.  Threatened people are protected from harm.  Haggard people are comforted with hope.  Drifting people are promised a future.

Do our churches do that?  It's ironic that so many of our American churches are more intent on protecting furniture and carpets than people.  Yes, we should try to honor sacred space, like our physical sanctuaries.  But what makes a space sacred is the presence of God.  And what brings the presence of God is not clean carpets and open hymnals, but clean hands and open hearts.

According to 1 Peter 2.5, you and I are the raw material Jesus works with to build churches that offer true sanctuary.

We must be ready to bring comfort.  People need to hear comforting words in times of struggle and turmoil.  However, those words bring comfort only if they are coming from people who stop long enough to be present in the lives of those suffering.  This can't happen well on Sunday mornings.

Sunday-morning-only churches will never offer sanctuary.  Sanctuary happens only when a large portion of any congregation commits itself to caregiving relationships as much as to good worship experiences.

We must be ready to offer protection from the wrath of God.  People who have rejected God are living under the wrath of God.  When people come to church, they must be offered their only hope for salvation--forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

But churches where people sit and simply absorb a Sunday morning service will never offer sanctuary.  Sinful and broken people must be shown how to receive forgiveness.  That will not happen until a large portion of any congregation commits itself to honest confession, talking openly about their own sin and need of grace.

We must be ready to offer protection from the enemy of our souls.  As Luther wrote, "this world with devils filled" threatens to "undo us."  A church that does not deal directly with the Satanic realm and teach the ways of resistance and victory will never offer sanctuary.  That will not happen until a large portion of any congregation joins in the aggressive work of intercession.  Until then many people will continue to suffer, needlessly.

Finally, people won't find sanctuary until someone opens the door.  When those two young African men came into our home, everything changed.  For a while it seemed that our home was more about them and it was about even our own daughters.  But it had to be that way for a season.  If they were to find sanctuary, our home had to be about their needs first.  We change our family lifestyle--how, when and what we ate; what we watched on TV; how we spent our money and time; and where we went.

That's the transition many churches must make.  Sometimes it will feel like we are neglecting our own to pay more attention to "them"--the new folks.  But this is how we cooperate with Jesus' plan to build churches that offer sanctuary.

If we all went to churches like this, we'd probably force the social scientists back to their calculations.

"Sanctuary," by Doug Newton, Light & Life Magazine, (Sept/Oct 2010)