Go ye into all the world….

The other day, while the other half and I were out and about, we came back from shopping at one of the bigger farm stores in the area to find someone had crammed a cartoon gospel tract into the handle of the driver’s side door of the other half’s vehicle. The tract was a reminder that unless we followed a certain narrow set of rules, we were not Christian.

There is a great deal of historical baggage that comes with Christian evangelism. For centuries, colonists used the idea of the great commission (You know, that phrase stating “go and make disciples of all nations”) to force their beliefs and their ways of life on others. This idea that everyone has to follow the way of Christianity has started crusades. It has caused genocides. It still causes strife to this day.

But it also causes conflict in the entire body of Christ as well.

It’s not hard to find those that insist that their way to faith is the only true way. Their particular denomination, with their particular translation of the old story, is the only truth. And heaven forbid anyone should stray from their definition of the path, their definition of the story, their definition of the magic…..

Oh wait, the idea that everything can be magic isn’t allowed in some walks of Christianity.

There are so many good people who get caught up in the legalism of their religion that they forget that the great commission was meant not to be a command, but rather a way of life. As you go into the world, tell the good news. For that was what the gospel of Jesus was meant to be, good news, not a diatribe of guilt. It’s supposed to be a commandment of love, not of eternal damnation and a litany of rules to follow. It’s supposed to be a story of living life to the fullest, whatever that looks like, instead of worrying every second of the day whether we are “good enough” to be Christian and feeling ashamed when we fall short of rules set by man.

I have always loved C. S. Lewis’ analogy that mere Christianity is more like a house with many rooms that represent each of the differing denominations and sects of the whole Christian Church. There is a hallway that in which new believers come to try the rooms. The idea is that the whole body of Christ has certain tenants that all follow: belief in Christ, faith, love, works, Communion, etc. Each room however follows their own rules of how that should look in the forms of their own doctrines and bylaws or whatever. Believers choose their rooms due to their conscience, the holiness they feel in that room, how the doctrines align with what they think faith should look like, and where they are in their journey. Sometimes, they change rooms. Sometimes, they go back out into the hall. Sometimes, they leave the building altogether.

Those of us who are disciples (and hopefully in one room or another) are supposed to bring others into the hallway, however we can. That is what the great commission wants us to do. We’re to show them the ways of the entire body, teaching them the good news of love, of faith, of journey….. but we shouldn’t be suppressing their own faith by forcing our own. We shouldn’t be telling them they aren’t the right kind of Christian because they believe something that is not a core tenant to the whole house. We should not be yelling at those outside of the house either that they are in the wrong for not believing at all. After all, the analogy continues:

“When you have reached your own room, be kind to those who have chosen different doors and to those who are still in the hall.”

~ C. S. Lewis
Mere Christianity

To claim one room is the only true room is hubris. To claim one way to worship is the only true teaching only creates a line drawn in the sand that forces people from finding their own way to faith. It shuts people down before they even have a chance to come into the hall, let alone find what room they want to worship in. It pushed people out of the building. Each room has its own strengths and its own weaknesses and each room also is a valid place to find the story of the good news. That is what unifies each room to the house that is Christ’s body. That is what makes each room part of the ecumenical unity that is The Church.

“The church is not a group of people who believe all the same things; the church is a group of people caught up in the same story, with Jesus at the center.”

~ Rachel Held Evans
Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again

No matter what room we are in, as we go into the world to make disciples, may we show the world what true disciples are.

Live as Jesus lived…. helping the sick, lifting up the marginalized, feeding the poor, comforting the grieving, seeing the good in every person along the way.

Love as Jesus loved… learning the stories of those who are around us and loving them all the more for it.

Be more like Jesus… gathering people up not with rules and legalism, but with stories and walks of life, love, joy, hope, faith, peace, light and even some magic instead of legalism and condemnation.

Share the story as you write your own.

Stay magical.

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