Many of us live in communities who are suspicious of people who participate in church, imagining all kinds of wild thoughts about who we are and what we do (based on the high-profile negative example of the few).
So, there are Christian people who experience this demotion in their church’s social status, reacting with anger.
Some perceive themselves as being persecuted. When they gather for meetings, Bible studies, worship, or fellowship events, anger is thick in the air. Their posture toward the world around them is chest out, chin up and ready for a fight. Newcomers to these churches discover a culture of defensiveness, hostility and self-righteousness. The prevailing attitude is, “our community needs to repent and get back with it, appreciating us for the good organization we are.” Most everyone who encounters these churches quickly looks for the exit door, thinking to themselves next time they pass that church campus, “that’s where all the angry people are.”
Looking in the mirror
Certainly most Christ-followers are not this way, but those who are feel free to spew their anger over the others, often unchecked by others. This kind of anger is like an emotional virus, infecting and damaging church witness. So, what’s a church to do when it sees itself in this mirror? What if even a small portion of your church’s people are stuck in their anger?
Recognize the anger as a distress signal.
Those with a healthy theology of emotions recognize the gift our emotions are to us. These Christians and their leadership engage rather than deny emotions, looking for the learning inherent therein. When someone displays and expresses anger, there is typically some kind of hurting going on below the surface.
Wise Christian leaders follow the anger, staying with it, peeling back the layers, until the hurt below the anger can be seen.
Caring Christian leaders then respond with empathy, recognizing and affirming one’s hurt, whether justified or not. When we are heard, understood, and cared for, often the hurt is on the way to healing.
Raise awareness with accurate information about our cultural context.
I’m always fascinated with how we human beings will find a way to explain our experience, whether we find accurate explanations or not. We are sense-making creatures with a high need to understand what’s happening. When well-meaning people in churches don’t understand the larger dynamics shaping culture in their community, they will invent explanations, which often lead to angry responses. When Christian leaders notice anger currents in their churches, they explore the anger, followed by providing learning experiences which can help make sense of culture change (See Part One in Shift: Three Big Moves For The 21st Century Church).
Present movement-oriented options, inviting your church forward.
Stages of development … understanding that we are works in progress, moving from one growth stage to another, can equip and empower people to let go and move ahead.
Anger, frustration, and blame are often included in the early stages of movement involved in the shift from a Modern Era worldview to a Postmodern Era worldview (process of discipleship). When people understand they are simply at one stop in the journey, they give themselves permission to continue the journey.
Return to your first love; the good news of the gospel.
One would think this goes without saying (or writing). One would think. We get so caught up in the running of the church that we lose the why. Return to the why.
God so loves this world that God goes to extreme lengths to demonstrate that love, in hopes that many will receive and embrace the beautiful Way of Jesus. What could be better than that? The gospel is life-giving and life-altering. Focusing on ourselves, indulging the false narrative that we deserve cultural privilege, leads to a slow, depressing spiritual death.
Shift from member to disciple identity.
Members of organizations pay their dues in exchange for the rights and privileges available. Membership has its privileges. Membership identity and culture has so very little to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught that laying down one’s right to membership privileges is actually the way to life.
When we forget ourselves, focusing on God and living into God’s calling … that’s when life grows really good. Disciples generally don’t care much about prestige or organizational status since they are so caught up in God’s transformation work.
So, let’s change the perception of far too many in our culture … the perception that church is where the angry people are. Let’s do our work, working out our salvation and moving toward a better expression of church. Let’s be churches who reflect the beautiful Way of Jesus.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an excerpt of an article written by Mark Tidsworth, founder and team leader at Pinnacle Leadership Associates and 2023 breakout leader at BGAV’s annual meeting. It was published by the Baptist General Association of Virginia.
