Week #2: An Incomplete Gospel?

In chapters 2-4, Rev. McLaren tells what led him to writing the book "Everything Must Change." For years he had been haunted by two questions: What are the biggest problems facing our world? And, what does Jesus have to say about these things? He had this constant feeling that the Christian church was missing something. He wondered why the world's largest religion (33% of the world's population!) had made so little progress improving the devastating problems of the world. He had this nagging feeling that Jesus' vision for his followers was much bigger than we were living out.

He tells two stories about encounters with Christian people in Africa, who said some very powerful things. One is the son of a pastor who pointed out that he had basically heard one sermon his whole life: "You are sinners who will go to hell if you do not repent and believe in Jesus. Jesus is coming back soon, and if he does and you are not saved, you will go to hell. So, repent and believe the good news!" However as he grew he looked around him and saw incredible suffering, and he wondered why his pastors never preached on these things. All around him was genocide, violence, poverty and corruption. As he read the scriptures, he was sure Jesus would care about the people suffering under these realities in this world. And yet, the leaders of the Christian church were silent. He asked, "Did God only care about our souls going to heaven after we die? Were hungry bellies unimportant to God? Was God unconcerned about the children crying, the mothers hiding, the fathers crouching by windows unable to sleep because of gunfire?" These questions were at the core of McLaren's decades long struggle.

Later, he was in a meeting with a group of pastors in South Africa, and one young man who was working as a health care provider among the poorest of the poor in a refugee camp, says to the pastors: "You church leaders do three things and only three things. You constantly talk about healing. You constantly talk about people being born again. And you teach tithing. These things are doing more harm than good to the people in the camps! People on HIV/AIDS medication believe your words about healing, and they stop taking their medicatons, and the next thing you know, they are more ill than ever. The people do what you tell them to do to be born again, but then afterwards their problems are no better than they were before. And, the people tithe what little money they have, and the only people who are helped is YOU and your churches! What good is all of that? You are doing more harm than good! I am a believer. I love Jesus too! Don't you think Jesus is calling the church to do something to make things better for these people?"

These moments shifted everything for Rev. McLaren. How do you respond to these strong witnesses from believers in Africa? Do you think they are right? What DOES Jesus say about the poor, and the responsibility of believers? Does Jesus call us to simply make sure people's souls are saved? Or, does he call us to something more?