Sooooooooooooooooo it’s been a while… partly because I’ve had a LOT on my plate, partly because I haven’t had much to say, and partly because I haven’t felt like I’ve entirely been in a place where I should be saying things… I’m not going to revisit that stuff but if you want to know more you can dig through the archive’s and read some of my older posts… what’s important is I’m on my way back :)…

I recently had the privilege of seeing Tim Minchin perform his new show with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra… First up the guy is an INCREDIBLE showman… he is funny, he is intelligent and he is extremely talented…  That being said – he HATES the church… and our expression of what God looks like.  So much so that he has hundreds of thousands of people around the world singing his humourous exaggerations about what the church looks like and how irrelevant it is… His show this time was no different – going so far as to call God a **nt.  Obviously, I don’t like it… and my being there is in no way meant to seem as a support of that opinion…

But I figure I can have 1 of 2 responses… one, do what most christians do and get frustrated with his ‘attitude’ and his ‘unwillingness to reason’ and write the guy off completely… or two, get fascinated as to WHY someone would reach that conclusion and improve HOW we communicate the gospel better… I chose option two ;)…

And honestly, that is a MUCH harder choice to make because it means we… I… Have to look INWARD at our… my… own error and ask the tougher question – how did we… I… contribute to this mentality?  Not just with Tim, but with anyone?

Honestly, Tim’s frustration is valid… and to remove his right to be frustrated is not a path we have authority to go down… so what is Tim’s frustration?  He is frustrated by some of the things that frustrate many who opposed ‘The Church’ in recent years… our perceived focus on money, questions around why a loving God would let people starve, why middle class people pray middle class prayers while kids die of curable diseases, why churches have multi million dollar facilities and multi million dollar budgets without a perceived accountability to how THEIR money is spent… and of course like many ‘intellectuals’ – using the bible to prove God’s existence to someone who doesn’t hold the bible as credible seems like stupidity… at best…

All that laid out – do we really WANT to learn from someone so ‘critical’ and so ‘unteachable?’  short answer: yes, and the future of the church depends on our ability to listen to our critics… And most importantly – how do we do it without compromising the gospel…

For starters there is no short answer to any of his, or anyone’s, frustrations – but that doesn’t mean as a church we aren’t responsible for trying to address them… And honestly, SOME of his frustrations need to be looked at, scrutinised and addressed INTERNALLY and others are things that will not change without an acceptance for the need to have faith.

Take our nature for prayer… we pray for US all the time – for our church to grow, for our programs to improve, for the healing of our family or friend, for financial prosperity… and those things ARE important… but externally, looking in, it does look selfish… and hypocritical for God to do MORE for us when it would appear he has done so little for others… truth is – we know God has done EVERYTHING necessary for life and godliness through the full knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence. (2 peter 1:3).  But the part of that puzzle we always leave out is that PART of that everything is in us… is us… part of God’s response to the plight of the hungry, the naked, the imprisoned, the sick and the homeless is us… and we don’t take the call to THEIR needs as seriously as we take the call to our own… and that IS sad…

What about money? for decades people have accused the church of being ‘money focussed’ – and we have argued it and justified it and largely ignored their feedback as ‘opposition’ rather than seeing it as a chance to change our perceptions… I wonder how many churches are even committing 10% of their total budget to missions… or 10% of their total budget to local community work?!  I promise you this: No body is going to wake up on Sunday and decide to go to church for the first time because you have a new lighting desk… they would go if they felt like you actually cared about them… and about their community… but they don’t feel that – and that is our fault…

I wonder how Tim would criticise the early church? how would he criticise a movement of people who committed everything that had to the service of the kingdom and to the caring of the poor? How would he criticise a community that shared and divided everything – regardless of race, regardless of stature, regardless of gender… could he criticise a movement like that?

I am going to do another piece entitled ‘Thing’s Tim Minchin could learn from the church’ – but I think it’s always better to look internally at growth and change before we try and look at what needs to change externally…

much love,

adam