In my work as a pastoral counsellor I can generally put the ‘presenting issues’ clients bring to our sessions into one or more of three categories:

1. Belonging: ‘I’m lonely, and find it difficult to make friends – and I’m not friends with myself either’.

2. Believing: ‘What sense can I make of this issue (eg. our son/daughter has “come out” as gay/lesbian)’?

3. Behaving: ‘How am I supposed to get along with [this/these person/s]’? Or: ‘I have problems with anger/fear/grief etc. which cause me to behave inappropriately at times.’

Christianity addresses these primary human concerns. Sometimes they’re put under headings like ‘Mind‘, ‘Heart‘, ‘Will‘. They are the three recurring themes in a five-chapter book in our New Testament – 1 John. Evangelical statesman John Stott in his commentary on 1 John says they’re the three tests of a true Christian: the ‘Social test‘ (love), the ‘Belief test‘ (the uniqueness of Jesus) and the ‘Moral test‘ (obedience to the will of God/Christ). The classic question – we’ve all heard sermons on it – is ‘If you were in a court of law charged with being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? And what would that evidence look like?’

Think back: Why did you become a Christian? Your friends were Christians (belonging)? You believed that God had a plan for your life (believing)? You wanted a purpose in life, something to live for (behaving)?

Why did you join a particular church? You liked the people (belonging)? In terms of doctrine they tick the right boxes (belief)? They care about others (behaving)?

Usually it’s a mix of all three. If a church majors on just one of these emphases it’s likely to be unhealthy. When I ask ‘What is a Christian?’ conservatives often respond: ‘A Christian is someone who believes that…’ defining their faith in terms of dogma (Pharisees and demons are orthodox too). More liberal Christians say something about ‘love’ or ‘being nice to each other’. Radicals like the concept of discipleship: following Jesus, which can be costly. If ‘right belief’ is a church’s emphasis, it may tend towards excluding others (the Pharisees were noted for this). If we major on ‘belonging’ we can become a country club, existing mainly for ourselves and our friends…

Last Sunday my wife Jan summed it up: ‘We are called to do in our world what Jesus did in his’. He was ‘the man for others’ (as Bonhoeffer put it) so we should be too. If his advocacy for the poor and the marginalized got him into trouble with power-hungry authorities so we too should be ‘political’ – and that radical approach may be costly.

 ¢â‚¬ËœWorship ¢â‚¬â„¢ ideally should involve head and heart and will – all three. We don ¢â‚¬â„¢t leave our brains at the church door, but ask, with others,  ¢â‚¬ËœWhat is truth, in a world of competing ideas? ¢â‚¬â„¢ When we greet each other with  ¢â‚¬ËœHow are you? ¢â‚¬â„¢ it ¢â‚¬â„¢s not simply a polite conversation-starter, but we really want to know, so that we can  ¢â‚¬Ëœbe there ¢â‚¬â„¢, and  ¢â‚¬Ëœpray ¢â‚¬â„¢ for one another. And when we go out into the world as  ¢â‚¬ËœJesus people ¢â‚¬â„¢, we are still worshipping…

Shalom!

Rowland Croucher

http://jmm.aaa.net.au