Previously: We are United Under One Vision
Don't Stick Your Toe in the Water... CANNONBALL!
If you're just joining us, I've been unpacking the seven big ideas behind our Life Code.
Our Life Code is our start-up's unique DNA.
It takes different flavors of churches to reach different flavors of people; this is our flavor!
Our fifth big idea at Life Church seems to resonate with a lot of our geusts:
We Will Be Known For What We Are For
It's striking when you look at the stats:
- The American Church is too closely identified with political partisanship and culture wars.
- In a recent study, 16-to-29 year olds overwhelmingly view Christians as hypocritical, judgmental, too political, and anti-homosexual.
- Closer to home, no county in Michigan has seen an increase in church attendance over the past decade.
I'm a Gen Xer. We were known as the first generation of latch-key kids. After school, the bus would drop us off to an empty house where we would piece together our own afternoon snack and entertain ourselves solo.
Somewhere along the way, this reality seeped into our spiritual experience. We are latch-key, culturally-Christian rebels who are journeying solo (without the Church), piecing together our own belief system apart from Scripture, sometimes with a religious chip on our shoulders. This makes me sad.
The list of contributing factors is too long to unpack here, but the current situation is obvious: Gen Xers and Millennials have a strong idea about what the American Church is against.
In the Great Lakes Bay Region, exactly 50% of the population are Gen X/Millennial.
We want to help change the way they think about church!
How? At Life Church, we will be known for what we are for!
We will speak vision and life over our people.
People understand sin. Young people aren't dumb; you can be the most irreligious, Biblically-illiterate person and still turn on the news and see the depths of humanity's total depravity. What people far from God are looking for is hope... and guess what? The church has THE greatest message of hope available for everyone!
We choose to leverage humor over hammer.
Yes, somewhere along the way people began calling me "the funny pastor." That's fine, because humor attracts. When someone laughs, the defenses come down and they lean into the conversation, not away. Life Church unapologetically throws punchlines over throwing stones (this is also what my first book is about).
We will lift up the life-giving power of Jesus Christ rather than using our platform to condemn.
We don't want to be the angry preachers who tear other people down. No one likes that guy. Instead, we point to Life. There is so much that Jesus is for - - when you paint a vivid, gospel-drenched picture of what could be and what should be, the scent of grace becomes irresistable.
We'll be unpacking our Life Code more this Wednesday night at Life 101. It's a Night of Pure Awesomeness.
I hope to see you there - - be sure to register here!
