The American Church

The Church is the hope of the world, the Church in China is the hope of the world, the Church in Africa is the hope of the world, the Church in Brazil is the hope of the world. I have a hard time saying that the Church in America is the hope of the world. Or I guess you can say believing that we can fulfill our duty as the hope of the world. One time I was at my discipleship group and a lady described her place in her walk as, "Fat, Dumb, and Happy". That is a great way to describe the American Church. But here's the thing, I want to love the American Church. Jesus loves the American Church. I don't think that he looks condescendingly at us and thinks that there is no hope for the American Church. He loves us! He knows that there are American Christians out there that have exposed the dysfunction of the American Church, he knows it because he revealed it to us! He revealed it to us that we might be his messengers and do something about it, not so we could judge our brothers and sisters! I confess that I have done my fair share of judging. (Don't even ask me about how I feel about some of the Christians that come into our coffee shop.) I want to love the American Church! Me, Mary Perkins, through the grace and blood of Jesus, can be the hope of the American Church! (Since I belong to the Church I am also the hope of the world!) God can use me and the people around me to live this life in such a way that the American Church would actually thirst for Jesus instead of look at us as though we have taken this "God-thing" too far. Or maybe God would use us to help them see that he can use ordinary people to do extraordinary things for his name! I pray that I could love the American Church, because the world will know that we are Christians by our love.