Loving the Unlovely

I see the kids coming into our nice, middle class church sporting their green hair and dressed in an array of red, black, plaid and striped clothes.  I hear some of their music —loud, punkish, raw and energized.  Not just good old rock n’ roll, but something with a little more edge to it.  Some of the lyrics are horrible.  But some… some are singing—yes, even shouting—praises to God.  Some of the words carry an urgency, a passionate, driven call to spread the Word, share the Love, bring people to repentance to God.  Granted, the lyrics are not always intelligible to the adult ear, but the kids get it.
 
I also see the worried, even embarrassed looks on some of the parents’ faces.  Are nice Christian kids supposed to look like that?  Sound like that?  They kind of change the landscape of our church—add a look that stands out a bit.  Is that OK? 
 
Recently a young, loud Christian band played at our café/coffee shop.  To our dismay, a group of young punker looking kids showed up, complete with spiked hair of various hues, chain belts and attitudes.  One or two of the kids got a little rowdy afterwards and roughed up the place a bit.  Mind you, this coffee shop was a new addition to our ministry – a shiny, new place for the local body to hang out.  And these kids had messed it up.  So, we stopped the music.  No more of that!  And you know what?  A lot of those kids never came to our church again. 
 
Am I defending their misbehavior?  No!  But I do think we missed a great opportunity to share the Gospel and draw these kids in.   I saw it clearly during our recent Festival of Hope in Ireland.  We brought Kanten Russell with us, a wild and talented professional skateboarder who loves the Lord.  When he showed up jumping over everything imaginable (including me) on his skateboard, the young people flocked to see him.  They came, many of them looking scruffy, lost, with a healthy dose of skepticism—first to see Kanten, then later to the Festival where they heard the Gospel. Over 300 of them gave their lives to the Lord.  One young man, with NIRVANA emblazoned across his T-shirt, clutched a new skateboard and said, “I just gave my heart to Jesus…if it wasn’t for the Festival of Hope I would still not be believing.  My faith in Jesus is strong now…you’re giving hope to children, giving them Jesus.  He’s the Man!”
 
It was exciting, wonderful, and awesome to see the Lord work!  We embraced these kids, loved them, gave them the Word and brought them into the body of Christ.  I was reminded of the early days of Calvary Chapel. Chuck Smith listened one day as members of his congregation complained about barefoot and often unwashed hippie kids coming into their nice church with its new, green carpet.  His response?  “Tear out the green carpet!”
 
In the movie, The Godfather, when the mafia families were ready to go to war they said, “It’s time to go to the mattresses.”   Well, I think it’s time for us to go to war – except, unlike the mafia, this is a spiritual war against the evil that seeks to destroy our kids.  Our call to battle just might be, “It’s time to tear out the green carpet.” 
 
There’s a new generation to reach.  We have a successful, thriving church that God has blessed, but let’s not ever become the church that Jesus rebuked in the book of Revelation:   “I know your works, your labor…you have persevered and have patience and have labored for My Name’s Sake.  Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (Revelation 2).   Our first love should be Jesus.  When He is first in our lives, then our love for others pours out of our lives like living water, and we become more like the church Paul described in Romans 12:
 
“Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.”
 
A church like that can’t help but reach people of all kinds—especially the next generation.  Our faith is encouraged and strengthened as we stretch beyond our comfort zones and learn to look beyond exterior appearances.  Behind every long-haired, tie-dyed clad hippie who wandered into a Jesus movement church in the early 70s, was a lost soul needing the truth.  Inside every street smart, black clad youth who dares to enter a place of worship today, lays a heart that needs to know love, truth and life. 
 
What I loved is that Chuck Smith didn’t have to try to be like them – he remained his middle-aged, solid self.  But he loved those kids, accepted them and taught the Word to them in language and music they understood.  We have a great legacy. How can we do any less today? 
 
Thank-you once again for your prayers and support.  Our prayer is that all of us will be encouraged in God’s Word, and be strengthened for the battles ahead, because it truly is time to tear out the green carpet!
 
God bless you,
Ray Bentley