“We must be known for our immovable commitment to the standards and values of Jesus—those of respect, faithfulness, love, grace, mercy, duty, justice, forgiveness, compassion and generosity—all born out of the genuine spirituality that results from a depth of relationship with God. The extent to which any local church is not primarily known for these qualities speaks to the challenge ahead of us.
The moment has come for the church to abandon, once and for all, a theology of judgement, a theology of in or out, sinner or saint, forgiven or not. We must more fully embrace a theology…which is able to celebrate the goodness of creation without ignoring the great problem of sin. The time has come for the church to ensure that the main thing is the main thing.
Generous churches see the good in others and respond with a spirit of kindness and open-handedness rather than judgement. Generous churches acknowledge the issue of sin in each individual’s life, but they do so within a context of recognizing their own daily battle in this area. Generous churches do not look down on people; they look across at people. A generous church, to rephrase the words of the famous nineteenth-century Baptist preacher, C. H. Spurgeon, is a group of beggars telling other beggars where to find bread.
We are not some kind universalist entity that says that everybody receives salvation whether or not they acknowledge Christ; instead we recognize the greatness and weakness in all people. None of us are perfect—all have fallen short. Generous mission starts with the simple but profound truth: ‘God loves you whoever you are, whatever you’ve done, however scarred you are by sin. God loves you!’ A generous church recognises that its tone and emphasis are as important as the core of its message.”
Steve Chalke in Intelligent Church: A Journey Towards Christ-Centred Community (Grand Rapids: Zondervan).
What’s your response to Chalke? I consider it a call to action. Generous churches are communities of generous Christ-followers living on generous mission. Who’s in?