Right before our eyes, the church has been changed.  Once the church was considered a positive in any community.  In the early days of the West, a church was built before a school.  It was the place to be a part of the community.  It was a place where help could be found.  It was a place that was thought only as a good thing.  But today, I have seen a change.  The church has become typecast as something entirely different.

The church is pictured in the press, social media, and entertainment as an antagonist to progress.  For the casual non-believer, it is not unreasonable to view the church as actively working against advances to science, healthcare, education, politics, art, foreign policy, sexuality, and gender identity and equality.  The church is perceived as a detriment to all that is new, modern, contemporary, and understanding.  And the very institution of the Church only seems to stand up and say something is when it is against something.  Shouts of “don’t do that, don’t think that, don’t say that, don’t drink that, and don’t vote for that” is the new normal.

The church has become that anti-character or the antagonist on the world stage. The response to this typecasting is a gentle whisper.  “We can’t compromise on our values,” is the common answer from the church.  I am not saying we need to change the values of the church but to change the perception by doing something else.  That something else is to reclaim our role as a protagonist.  Become the good guy.  We need heroes, white hats, open arms, and open hearts.  No condemnation, no judgment; simply become more than a hard wall of an unbending standard.  We need to direct our attention and our zeal and our efforts to the provision of love.

We need to be a place of non-judgmental acceptance in our community.  A place where the lonely find a smile instead of a ruler.

We need to be a place where the hungry are fed and not set roadblocks.

We need to provide a place of safety.  A place of hope.  A place of fresh starts.  A place of vision.  A place where you are more likely to be mentored than taught.  A place where you are welcome in my home.  A place to share a meal and a hug.  The church is to provide a compelling vision of a better life than to coerce them into a superficial deistic moralism.  A church where you are never threatened, ensnared or bullied.  Instead, it is a place where you are pointed, challenged, exampled and released to make your own decision.

When Charlie Rose was interviewing Steve Martin about his life as an actor, he asked: “what is the best advice for new and aspiring entertainers?”  Steve Martin replied, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.”

We need a better agent to cast the church into a better role.  Not one of the bad guy wanting to steal the cattle and run away with the heroine, but the guy in the white hat that the whole community rallies around to reclaim the town.

What do you think?