summer is coming but winter is here

When the site's foyer, or front page, is all about spring and summer, while most of the nation has a nice layer of snow outside their window... well, it's a difficult analogy to sell. 

Or is it? The United States has had an abnormally cold winter this year. Even the south has felt the icy sting of northern air.  And spring is only a waiting game away. If we sit on our butts long enough the perennials will break through the cold ground, and the warm breeze will be back again. Finally, we can talk about our tans instead of our chapped lips.

And that's our problem when we begin to discuss church. Many know this is a winter for the Christian institution. (Let's pray it isn't autumn. Then we are in real trouble.) There are a few things we do in a winter. 

1. We stop producing good fruit- This is both spiritual and physical ways we work towards God's kingdom here on Earth.
2. We internalize- What happens to the deciduous trees in autumn? This isn't a trick question. The tree internalizes it's energy to prepare for winter. It does that by letting go of life on the outside, or drops its leaves. The same thing has happened to church. We are so fearful of our particular institution dying we are refusing to see that we are slowly killing it.
3. We act out of scarcity instead of abundance- This last one is the kicker. Small churches cannot get people past the front doors because they come across as super-needy. No joke, I visited a church where the greeting time lasted five minutes and that was because the entire congregation was lined up in front of me to hug and ask me 20 questions. This isn't sweet, it's creepy. This is why large churches are staying strong. People are so weirded out by the small church desperation they would rather go someplace where no one talks to them at all. 

And we act like we can wait it out and it will go away. It won't. This is the real danger of Church in America: we don't have the American spirit anymore to drive us to fix it.

When the Baptist, Anabaptist, Christian Church, and other denominations took off in the late 1700's to early 1800's, it was partly because of the American can-do attitude. We were workers, growers, and entrepreneurs. We saw the need for church to change and we just changed it. I was easy because the spirit moving it was in line with the need. 

Today, it is different. We have been taught we can buy happiness, we don't have to work for what we want, change is out of our control. This has not only kept us in a Christian winter, it has deepened the cold. Everyone is just waiting for the right group or person to come forward with the right formula. (Usually involving keeping things as much the way they already are, as much as possible.) I'm surprised I haven't seen the book: How to fix the church in 20 easy steps and not break a sweat. 

What do we do? I can't say this enough. Something. Get off our butt, and try things. For Fig Tree Christian its getting a dedicated group of individuals together to begin praying and researching. Not to internalize how to recreate what exists at 20 different churches in a 10 mile radius. This is about figuring out what God wants Christians to be in this climate. God isn't calling us to jump ship after we see the next great thing coming over the horizon. This is about God calling us to help build and create the next step, the future mode of transportation for the Christian faith. 

Otherwise, and I say this with as much grace and love as possible, we need to stop this suffering and just pull the plug. This is not a winter we can just wait out. This is a winter that ends when we are ready for it to end. Are we ready?

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Until March 24th, any love offering made to Fig Tree Christian will come with a hand knotted heart bracelet. It is our way to say thank you for your gift. Bracelets are one size fits most, and colors are randomized.
Checks can be sent to:
Fig Tree Christian
42 Essex Ln
Hiram, GA 30141
Or you can make a donation by clicking here.

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