For a recent church promotion, we needed to come up with a tagline for our church. Being that this would be used in advertising it needed to be a simple phrase that not only accurately presented who we are as a church so that visitors are given a correct representation, but also clearly depicts the vision and mission of who we as a church strive to be. There are all kinds of common catchy slogans out there. Church websites are full of terminology designed to be engaging, encouraging, and inspiring. What could be said in a short memorable phrase to highlight what it is that marks Believers’ Church – Duluth as different from the many other churches out there? We chose “Real Life Christianity that Matters”.

Real Life

We can live out our Christianity in a way that looks great to all of those around us. To do so we just need to make sure we can convincingly play pretend for the duration it takes to fulfill our religious obligations. Just be sure to put on the right Christian veneer, say the correct Christian phrases, and do something that will positively attract the attention of those around you. The problem is to live as Christ has directed requires the power that is available only through Him. It cannot be faked forever. Knowing this we can be tempted to relegate contact with the Christian community to just a few short hours and surface-level interactions. Never long enough for the real us to be seen and always in carefully controlled spiritual settings so the real us never comes out.

That may sound extreme, but that is the inauthentic and fake Christianity that our world often offers. We have always endeavored to be a church that is unsatisfied with that kind of Christianity. We do not want to be a church that offers some sort of staged, canned, version of Christianity, but instead real people in real life. Real Christianity must be all-encompassing. It doesn’t simply engage on the step through the church doors only to be disengaged on the step out.

Being real necessitates an uncomfortable level of authenticity with one another. I am to know your weakness you are to know mine. We are to be involved in one another’s lives to such a degree that we know the good, the bad, and the ugly. It won’t always look perfect, but would you rather possess fake perfection or authentic relationships? We will see each other succeed and we will see each other fail. It is in the church where it is safe to be real with each other and allow our imperfections and sin to be seen because it is in the church that we know the solution for those failures.

Being authentic should never excuse our own sin, laziness, or half-hearted efforts. God desires to take the “real” us and turn us into something unrecognizable. Let Him do that work in you. It is when we take it unto ourselves pretending that God has already done that work that we can present a plastic version of ourselves. Instead, let’s let our Christianity be in “real life.”

Christianity that Matters

I recently heard a pastor speaking about how in a way, the great epics and fantasies of our modern culture put our Christianity to shame. In these fictional stories, there are great quests with huge implications. They either slay the giant or they are killed. The heroes either endure necessary agony to the end or all of the land will suffer. They are on a mission and the completion of that mission is “do or die”. What they are doing matters to them, to their kingdom and the world. Those are the stories that we entertain ourselves with. Then we come to the church, the place where the mission of God is to be clearly displayed and we are disappointed.

We have a King who has commissioned us. We have a King who gives us a purpose. No mission (real or fictional) is more dire than the mission of Christ. I think many people look at the modern-day church and see it as a joke, and many times rightfully so. Our world is familiar with a kind of Christianity with no passion, no urgency, no zeal. They are familiar with apathetic Christians who go to church, but their faith doesn’t matter to them. It doesn’t compel them. Real faith matters. It should persuade us. Christ and his purpose matter most. If that is not the Christ you know and if that is not the mission you have been given, it is not real Christianity.  

Real Life Christianity that Matters

That is the version of Christianity that we offer as a church because it is the type of Christianity we see Jesus offer in scripture. It won’t always be pretty, but it will be real. Its scope will go beyond that of Sunday morning service, and involve itself in all of our life. It’s that kind of Christianity that matters. It’s that kind of Christianity that gives us something to live for. A passion worth dying for. I hope it describes who we are as a church but the fact is we have room to grow. Let’s be a church that strives to be real together, to allow Christ access to all of our lives, and then to live as though this is what matters most because that is the reality.