Our blog last week (see When We Think Like Americans Instead of Christians) regarding the ongoing border crisis generated plenty of discussion. It is an emotional issue. On one hand, we have our nation. Spiraling in debt, open borders, laws ignored, political turmoil, international hot spots around the world occupying us. On the other hand, we have children. Children in need. Children in trouble. Children in danger. The premise I laid out was this: Our government is not going to deal with this border crisis satisfactorily. We've had a border problem for 30+ years and have yet to solve it. We won't. We have nearly 60,000 children being detained who have crossed our border with more on the way. They are fleeing wretched lives in countries where the governments are non existent, laws are what the drug running gangs say, sex trafficking thrives, violence and death are a daily way of life, poverty suffocates and desperation has given birth to panic. They are here. More are coming. So what....what can we do?
My response was it is time for the church, the body of Christ, to actually begin acting like the church.
Let's get some facts on the table. Most of these children are coming from 3 countries in Central America which are among the darkest places on the globe right now. They are Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. According to our U.S. Customs and Border Apprehensions records, apprehensions from Honduras are up 593%. Honduras has the #1 murder rate in the world. Apprehensions from Guatemala are up 416%. Guatemala has the #2 murder rate in the world. Apprehensions from El Salvador are up 330%. El Salvador has the #5 murder rate in the world. In every instance, the number one reason stated for fleeing these nations by these children is violence spurred by the drug trade that floods from Columbia through these countries and Mexico, and to the U.S., where they are being illegally distributed, and consumed, by us. So for fear of life, these children are running in ever increasing numbers, to us. They are here. More are coming. What can we do?
It is time for the church, the body of Christ, to begin acting like the church.
So how does this begin? Well, how about with the most prosperous, affluent, churches in the world, the American megachurch. Just here in South Carolina, a small state, we have 35 churches classified as megachurches. The classic definition of a megachurch is one with an average attendance of 1000 or more on a weekly basis. Of the 35 in South Carolina, according to reported numbers, all average 1800 or more per Sunday. The largest of these are Newspring Church based in Anderson with an average attendance approaching 30,000 counting all campuses, pastor Perry Noble. Redemption World Outreach Center in Greenville with attendance approaching 15,000, pastor Ron Carpenter. Seacoast Church in Mt. Pleasant with attendance approaching 15,000, pastor Greg Surratt. Brookland Baptist Church in Columbia with attendance approaching 10,000, pastor Charles Jackson. And Brookwood Church in Simpsonville with attendance approaching 8,000, pastor Perry Duggar. We might as well throw in Elevation Church of Charlotte, NC with attendance over 15,000 as many South Carolinian's attend there, pastor Steven Furtick. Friends, that's just in tiny old South Carolina! Now think of all the megachurches across our nation. To these churches, we have a crisis. We have children, the very least among us, in danger and in need. These needs are only going to grow. To the American megachurch, it is time to step up and lead!!!
The megachurch has caused much disagreement among many Christians. Many view them through the lens of narcissism. The pastors routinely make six or seven figure salaries, not to mention what they make off of book sales and speaking fees. Many of these pastors have private jets, limos, multiple million dollar homes. They worship in cathedrals of opulence. Spend millions on video and sound systems, lighting and special effects that rival a U2 concert. They have the most people, the most money and the most influence. It is time for them to lead.
True biblical leadership requires sacrifice. The greatest leader of all time, our Lord Jesus Christ, willingly sacrificed His life. The apostles gave theirs as well, as have many others over the last 2000 years standing for the faith. Leaders in the New Testament endured hardship, suffering, and persecution. They did so with joy. They never attained riches nor sought them. Jesus left the glory of heaven for the poverty of this earth. The foxes had holes and the birds had nests, but the Son of Man had no place to lay His head. Compare that, to the American church today. True biblical leadership requires sacrifice. It also requires humility.
Humility to place the needs of others above our own. Humility to willfully submit to God. Humility to model before people that we are called to serve, not be served. Humility to live like Jesus Christ, not Beyonce or Jay Z. True biblical leadership requires sacrifice, it requires humility, and it requires obedience.
Obedience to the will of God, and who in God's will and word is more precious to Him than children? Is there one place in scripture where Jesus refused children? He welcomed them at every turn, and they loved Him in return. They were naturally drawn to Him, and He always, without exception, embraced them, loved them, taught them and protected them. Yet on our borders right now, children fleeing hellish conditions are being greeted by crowds of angry Americans, shouting them down, calling them criminals, demanding they leave. Go back to where you came from! We don't want you!
Biblical leadership requires many things, and biblical leadership is required now. And to the American megachurch, it needs to begin with you. Are you willing to lead in modeling sacrifice before our ever growing godless nation in showing the love of Jesus Christ to these children? Are you willing to lead in humbling yourselves and submit to God's clear will in regards to children and obey His call to "suffer" them? Pastor, are you willing to look in the mirror, see the excess, and lead your people in sacrifice, humility and obedience. Count the costs, as they are always there. But are you willing to lead, work across denominational lines, unite the body of Christ and meet this crisis on our borders with the compassion and love we as the church are called to show?
Pastor, will you sell a house? Fully donate your book sales? Get rid of a jet? Take a pay cut? In your churches will you scale back the entertainment value, the luxuries and the dollars, for the sake of a child? You may lose some folks who desire the flesh to be pleased, but are they really that big of a loss? Is that all worship is? Not according to the bible. In Genesis 22, the first place in scripture where the word worship is mentioned(Gen 22:5), it speaks of Abraham heading to the mountain top to kill his son Isaac at God's command. It called worship the willingness to obey and sacrifice. Will you lead in doing this? Will you put off a building campaign and keep that extra service? Delay a new satellite campus or church launch for the sake of the mission field on our borders right now? Will you fully utilize the tremendous blessing you have been shown from above for the sake of the least of these in detainment with little hope or future visible to them? Will you show them Jesus? Will you lead?
Megachurch member, will you set the example? Follow those who lead you in sacrifice, humility and obedience? Will you take one of the least of these in to your homes? Yes, it won't be convenient, but neither was the cross! We in the small church may only be able to take in one, but will you, the millions upon millions of you, take in many? Will you love a desperate child, show them Jesus, make a disciple and prayerfully equip a missionary to return to their homelands? Will you give up the comfort and splendor where you worship and become lowly and meek as Jesus did for us? The government says right now we cannot bring them home with us, is that the will of God? Since when is the government ruler of this universe? Will we settle for that, or stand together as one. One body! His body! And not take no for an answer. Jesus said the gates of hell would not prevail against His church. Neither will our government, if we stand together.
This crisis is growing and will only increase. We, here in America, have a choice. We, the American church, need to lead this nation, and that will only happen if we bind ourselves together. Ecclesiastes 4:12 tells us, "Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken." These children have only one hope, and that is us.
Shall we allow them to simply be returned to there homes and once again face gangs and drugs, murder and death, become victims of sex trafficking, oppressive poverty? For these children, is that what is best? Friends, God is bringing the least of these to our doorstep. How does He expect us, His church, to respond? As Americans, or His body? With indifference, or with love?
They are here. More are coming. What can we do?
Isn't about time for the church to start acting like the church? Ditch our lone wolf mentalities that it's about our church or our denomination? Become one body, burying our non essential doctrinal differences, and unite around Jesus? Put aside our comforts and pleasures for the sake of others? For the sake of the least of these, innocent children? Isn't it about time this actually, finally happens?
Megachurches, this needs to begin with you.
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