Church Should be Dangerous

From my days as a youth minister, I remeber always having to get waivers signed. You know, just in case we broke your kid, we wouldn't be liable. We were concerned, and rightly so, with making sure that kids (and adults) were safe when we took trips or did activities of any sort. Church was a safe place.

Somehow, that has become a bad thing.

While I'm not advocating sprinkling broken glass over the floor, or leaving matches laying around your worship area, I do think Church needs to be a little more dangerous-- for Christians.

Think about believers in the Bible. They had to hide to worship. They had to sneak out of town. They often got tossed in the slammer. Many died. Church was not safe.

I spent some time in Europe, about a week, while I was in college. Their churches were fortresses, marble and stone cathedrals that looked just as prepared to repel enemy fire as Satan. Stepping inside them, one feels protected- it's no doubt why we call them sanctuaries. Here in America, we have some of these style churches, but most are fitted with pleasing carpets, and (somewhat) comfortable seating. The room should never feel to hot or cold, lest we lose the attention of the audience. Signs are often posted so people don't get lost, or accidently fall in the baptismal area. Church is safe, physically.

And sadly, it's even more safe Spiritually.

Don't get me wrong, I think people should feel safe in church, and those people that should feel safe are those that wanting to explore the idea of God. They should feel safe from judgment, safe from being left out, and safe from being called out and embarrased.

But those of us who follow Christ, we should be terrified.

Not an unfounded, phobic terror, but a holy terror. We ought to realize that whenever and where ever we gather in God's name is a dangerous place to be. We don't know what He will call us to, reveal to us, or do in our midst. Old Testament beleivers were terrified of the presence of God because they recognized the Holy, the set apart, altogether Other nature that is God. As followers of Christ, we now have confidence to enter God's presence, but that doesn't mean we should feel safe.

I've often heard it said that the safest place to be is in the center of God's will. Really? John the Baptist. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Jim Eliot. Peter. James. John. The rest of the disciples. All those martyrs in Fox Book of Martyrs. Jesus.

Clearly, they were safe, right?

We've come to expect that church will not expect too much of us. It is safe for us believers to go, because we've fulfilled our duty, surely He would ask no more than our attendance. He'd never ask us to risk our reputation, our job, or our life for Him.

Would He?

We should gather together in our faith communities and wonder if we will survive the encounter with God. 2 Corinthians 4 talks about us being Jars of Clay- brittle and easily destroyed, but containing a very powerful message. "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you."

As believers, we are to put ourselves at risk for those who do not know Him. We must risk being wronged, ignored, mistreated, abused and even killed for them. We are to go where none have gone, speak to those whom no one has. We are to give ourselves over to death so that they may have life. When we gather, each time we should expect and be willing to give this to God.

We are not meant to be a safe people.