Why Church?

For the last several months I have been working with a calendar to find a two month period in which I could leave for furlough and cause the least amount of disruption in the ministry. (The addition of our co-workers Bryan and Holly Hixson, and our new Youth Minister, Moses Mbabaali, and Administrative Assistant, Jane Mukamongi gives us great confidence in the on-going work.) I've finally found the window. My family will begin our furlough on 17 May and return to Rwanda on 26 July. Though a portion of our furlough will be to rest and renew friendships with family and friends, it will also involve seeking more partners for our ministry and specifically seeking to discover the remaining resources to finish the purchase of our facility.

On Sunday, 11 May, I plan to participate in the Kigali Marathon. Thus this Sunday, 4 May will be the last one that I will preach at CCR for 11 weeks. When we have moments in life in which we know our words are limited we choose them with great care. We must speak to the issues that we believe are the most important. We must go to the heart of the matter and call humanity to be all that God intends. This Sunday I will tackle the question, "Why Church?"

If there is a key Sunday in which I believe those of you exploring CCR should be with us this will be the Sunday. Please make plans to attend.

My experience with humanity has shown me that we have two deep hungers. One is for eternity. We want to know where we will end up. Though an atheist may make arguments against faith, why should he even care to make the argument unless something inside him causes eternal hunger? The other hunger is for community of humanity. We don't want to be alone. I believe Paul of Tarsus would call it the hunger for a perfect bride. It was Jesus' intention that those who believed in his resurrection would gather in a community that we call church. Yet, we all see the imperfections of churches. In fact, many times church gets in the way of both belief and community.

Rwanda has seen the failures of this imperfect bride more than probably any place in the world. Have you ever noticed that the oldest parts of cities in Rwanda have 3 buildings? They are an administrative office, church, and prison. The architecture makes an indictment of the colonial effects of church in Rwanda. The church was an institution used for manipulation, control, and enslavement.

The churches compliance in the Genocide of 1994 is well documented and shameful. Surely, no honest seeker in Rwanda can deny the failures of churches.

In fact, as we travel the world the failures are abundant. The institution that should discover and expound truth hides from it. The institution that should hold authority accountable panders to it. The institution that should nurture the vulnerable exploits them. The institution that should model integrity is wracked with moral failures. Why should we care?

Why Church? Can't we just do better on our own?

Yet, we no matter what we still hunger inside for a perfect bride? To be honest, the perfect bride will be discovered when our hunger for eternity is fulfilled. Until then, we must allow Jesus, the perfecter, to mold the imperfect bride (made up of our human failings.)

My best agnostic friend, Andrew Mwenda has a captivating phrase in his writing, "Leaders make things happen. Institutions make them last."

This week we'll take that phrase and explore and drink deeply. Jesus is supremely our leader. Yet he no longer physically walks this earth. The responsibility of lasting endurance rests squarely on the back of the church.

So we'll discuss the roles of institutions in building community. We'll acknowledge that if we want to make a change we must cease criticism as outsiders and become responsible doers in community. We'll see that through out history faith is always nurtured as we over and over again see the needs of others over ourselves. Lastly, we'll see that our habits of either keeping covenants or breaking them choose our life path. If we live in community we'll be better spouses and parents and the generations that follow us will remember us with honor.

Please join our journey of community this Sunday.

Dave