Embarrassement

Last night at the Catalyst Conference, Francis Chan shared a recent experience that took him on an historical tour of many sites throughout Europe that had ties to the Church. One place he visited was a church that had "squint holes" in the exterior wall through which the lepers were forced to participate in worship services, standing in the outside weather. He toured another church that was built in front of a railroad that was used as a main railway for transporting Jews to concentration camps during World War II. As the railcars traveled by the church, the congregation could hear the screams of the doomed victims. In response, the Christians simply sang louder to drown out the screams.


Chan, accurately, pointed out that these examples in our Church history are embarrassing and don't line up with Scripture. His question was, "What is the Church doing that Christians 100 years from now will look back on and consider embarrassing and not congruent with Scripture?"


My most immediate reaction is that the culture of the American Church is embarrassing, specifically our indulgence and consumerism mentality. Our narcissistic approach to life has infected the Church and prevents us from obeying even the simplest of commandments from our Lord, much less the Great Commission.


I don't pretend to know what things will be like 100 years from now. They could very well be worse. I just know that I'm embarrassed for us now.