Word to Yo Mutha, John Lennon
The church as a whole is failing my generation.
We don’t like it …we’re acting out… some of its healthy, some of its not, but either way there’s a revolt at work against the way church is being done.
But change within the walls of the modern church is inevitable. We don’t need another mega church full of lemmings following the status quo. We need a small number of individuals ready to commit to being true revolutionaries.
And are we guilty of using the term “revolution” too lightly?
A revolution is “a momentous change in a situation” (American Heritage Dictionary). 2000 years ago Jesus walked the earth and birthed the biggest revolution the church has ever seen. My generation will accept nothing less than a real experience with God. Jesus was and still is a revolutionary and He has called us to follow.
At a grass roots level, one heart at a time, God is birthing revolutionaries.
Webster defines a revolutionary as “someone committed to the thorough replacement of an established system of government in the hope of seeing radical change in society and social structures.”
While I was reading George Barna’s book, “Revolution”, this stood out to me–
“Sometimes Revolutionaries are seen as narrow minded or uninteresting because of their laser-like focus on Revolutionary ideals. Their disregard for the world’s (or the church’s) applause, combined with their intense dissatisfaction with the existing reality, enables Revolutionaries to act in ways that capture the attention (good or bad) of the complacent masses. The passion and intensity that cause them to do what they believe is right, oblivious to public reaction, are simultaneously intriguing and scary to those who uphold the white-bread norm. In fact, this public fascination with and resistance to Revolutionaries’ behavior serve to spur the change agents on to ever more advanced forms of transformational activity.”
“In the end the revolution may be more about re-shaping the revolutionary than it is about altering the course of society.“
I’m a gen-xer who grew up in the church. I want to experience God on a real level. Reading about it is fine, talking about it, ok fine, singing about it… ok… when do I experience it? I am sick of just hearing about it.
Actually, I think I have stopped listening. This is good, because it forces me to do the research on my own. To listen to someone bigger than the church. Because let’s face it. The church isn’t really the best example of Jesus the Revolutionary, is it?
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Comments
Now that I can actually be patient enough to read this–I can dig what Barna is talking about. He describes a July 18th personality type–the empassionaed leader who chases himself/herself into and out of focus. The revolution always changes the revolutionaries. Reference our own Boston Tea Party, Castro’s Cuba, and PatMotherfucking Robertson. Decadence and dependence on skewed ideals.
All you will feel is the prick of the needle, and shootng diluted peanut butter into your veins will give you god. It may also moisturize any seasonal dry skin.
I think your right on, for me the revolution is the personal. The inherent shaking of my soul. In the metaphor of FIGHT CLUB, it is the metaphor of the basement, and not the project mayhem stuff.
In heart of Darkness, it is the changes in the boat on the river, not in the war. The private revolution of Kurtz.
Way to go.