{"id":25382,"date":"2020-01-13T16:00:40","date_gmt":"2020-01-14T00:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=25382"},"modified":"2020-01-13T16:00:40","modified_gmt":"2020-01-14T00:00:40","slug":"the-accessibility-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-accessibility-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"The Accessibility of God"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever looked at the social institutions of our world and simply asked the question, \u201cWhy?\u201d\u00a0 Why is this here?\u00a0 Why is this run the way it is?\u00a0 Why does this group of people seem to thrive under these conditions while others don\u2019t?\u00a0 At times we realize that our current situations are in place because of actions implemented in the past, but our exploration of those first causes are rare.\u00a0 We think that the problems of our society are unique to our time and place \u2013 and some are.\u00a0 However, when we look at history, we realize that certain problems have always plagued us.\u00a0 During my time at Asbury, my church history professor once told us, \u201cVery few problems we face today are unique to us.\u00a0 If you really look at the core of the issue, you will find that most of our problems are the problems of the past, just in a different package.\u201d<\/p>\n

As I was reading through Bebbington\u2019s work, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain,<\/em> one section popped out more than anything to me: The accessibility of the church and who attends. Bebbington, \u201cLarge towns with a similar class structure possessed similar rates of churchgoing.\u00a0 Again, more detailed analysis of the returns has shown that where middle-class inhabitants were numerous, church attendance was higher.\u00a0 Conversely, in the poorer parishes, attendance was lower\u201d (109).\u00a0 This sparked an important question in my mind:<\/p>\n

Have we restricted God\u2019s “accessibility” to the middle and upper classes?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What fascinates me about this trend that Bebbington points out is that when one reads through the Gospels, there is a strong push that the Kingdom of God is to be accessible to the poor. \u00a0The church should be accessible for all, although it must be recognized that people will choose to not<\/em> access it.\u00a0 However, when one looks at the way the church has developed, it is not farfetched to see that the church has become a place for those with power and privilege.<\/p>\n

Our churches are catered to a consumeristic mindset that prioritizes programmatic elements for the powerful within the church.\u00a0 <\/strong>The other night, I was listening in on a conversation between my housemate and a friend of ours who is on staff at one of the international churches in Hong Kong.\u00a0 My housemate serves on the production team and was sharing about how on the coming Sunday, the worship team would have members from the refugee community playing in the main services.\u00a0 This sparked the question of why they only get to do this two or three times a year.\u00a0 Our friend thought for a moment and then shared his experience pastoring a multiethnic church in San Diego.\u00a0 He explained how his previous church would incorporate multiethnic worship once or twice a month and work to integrate the various cultures into their worship services.\u00a0 He paused and speculated that part of the reason the church in Hong Kong does not do something similar is because it would ultimately mess with the formula of what the church\u2019s worship is known for.\u00a0 As I listened, I couldn\u2019t help but reflect on how often it seems that our churches do not want to endanger the identity they have formed for fear of alienating their primary audience or churchgoers.<\/p>\n

Throughout my high school and university years, I remember sitting in the business meetings of my home church in Kentucky.\u00a0 My friends in the youth group and I would sit in the back, always excited to see what one particular person would bring to the table, as this person\u2019s family was considered one of the pillars of the church.\u00a0 Every decision the church made was ultimately filtered through this person\u2019s family because if it wasn\u2019t, then they would make a show of force or rally the troops to support their side of the cause.<\/p>\n

Every church has these members \u2013 whether they be elders, deacons, or generous tithers.\u00a0 We must be careful to not transform the church into the image of key individuals within a congregation.\u00a0 We must be wary that we do not fall into the trap of becoming churches that require people to conform to our individual expressions of the church so as to exclude them fellowship.\u00a0 Homogeneity is easy to attain, but it does not represent the multifaceted expression of God\u2019s vision for the church.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

With this in mind, another question is raised: The relevancy of the church.\u00a0 This is a question I hear so many of my non-Christian (and even Christian) friends wrestle with.\u00a0 What is the point of the church?\u00a0 Does it have any real relevancy to it?\u00a0 For some people, it does.\u00a0 But for others, it doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 Why is this?\u00a0 Does it come back to how the church caters for specific groups of people while excluding others?<\/p>\n

Bebbington writes, \u201cBut when all the obstacles to churchgoing have been reviewed, there remains a fundamental explanation for the alienation from the churches.\u00a0 As a recent historian has put it, the otherworldly preoccupations of the churches were too distant from the needs of day-to-day living\u201d (113).<\/p>\n

I have heard the church criticized for being so inward focused, that it has forgotten its mission.\u00a0 And while it is true that churches speak a specific language that makes sense to its members, there is<\/em> a message that the church has for the world.\u00a0 It is a message of hope.<\/strong>\u00a0 Hope that all things will be made new, that all tears will be wiped from our eyes, that there will be no more death, sorrow, pain or crying (Revelation 21:1-5).\u00a0 This is a message for the world to hear.\u00a0 It is a message that is not relegated to a single group of people, but is accessible to all should they choose to accept it.<\/p>\n

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