I’m a big fan ruffling feathers when they need to be ruffled, this is one of them in my opinion… church boycotts. In recent memory, we’ve boycotted Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code, The Golden Compass and Disney. Do these things contain or support “objectionable elements”? Sure, but what in this world doesn’t anymore? I can’t help but think Jesus must constantly be rolling his eyes at the idiots we (as His church) have become. ChurchMarketingSucks.com is one of the groups I follow on Twitter – their name itself is probably offensive to some, but if you’ve never heard of them, you’ve got to check them out. They posted this link this morning to a megachurch in Florida who replaced their Pepsi machines with Coke machines because of their support of the gay agenda.

Church boycotts are one of the things that have irritated me for a really long time. What purpose do they serve? Are they spurred by true, Spirit-led conviction or just by personal preference or simply out of fear? The bottom line is, the world is used to seeing the church act out of fear than it is out of love and compassion. Kevin Hendricks from CMS wrote an excellent article entitled Don’t Cause Unnecessary Offense,where he talks about the churches image and how we are hindering the spread of the gospel:

This ‘unnecessary offense’ is such a foreign concept, especially to a rights-driven Christian American like myself. The idea that I should compromise with people who I think are morally wrong is ridiculous. Yet Paul told us to become all things to all people (1 Corinthians 9:22), that if something bothers somebody else we shouldn’t do it for their sake (1 Corinthians 8:13), that we are slaves to righteousness(Romans 6:18). So much for the land of the free. I think part of the issue is with the word ‘compromise’. Today compromise is a dirty word. But it’s possible to compromise and not sell out your beliefs. It’s possible to agree to disagree and still find enough common ground to move forward, without causing lightning bolts to fall from the sky.

Kevin’s right, the word “compromise” is probably the single most scary word to us Christians. You might as well be saying a 4-letter curse word. So is the point of this post just to say we should just roll over and let the “onslaught of wickedness” ensue? No. But as God’s been teaching me lately via Proverbs, we should be wise when we open our mouths, when we voice our opinions and call out the offenses of those we disagree with. Jesus was the perfect example of this during his ministry on earth… he was surrounded by murderers, thieves and whores yet the one group that He consistently and publicly spoke out against the most wasn’t any of those groups, but the religious of His day who thought they were carrying out His will.

God didn’t put us on this earth to point out every offense to the cause of Christ, nor vocally stand in opposition to those who support groups and agendas that we disagree with. Our sole purpose on this earth is to share the message of Jesus with the world. Somewhere along the line that purpose has gotten muddled and confused. I’m afraid we’re communicating anything but the message we were put here to communicate. We (the church) need to be rebuked, we need to be re-educated and we need to be reminded why we’re here, what our mission truly is and what it was never intended to be.

Your thoughts, as always, are welcome.