Marti’s “Call to failure” Catch yesterday quickly found a home. Many of you have commented both online and privately through email about how this Catch connected. It should be no surprise. Church is home for bad people. Jesus didn’t come for good people. He made that very clear. And yet why does it seem that every time we talk like this our message appears radical or edgy? It should not be this way. This should be the most obvious thing about the church – a daily fresh astonishment.
Church is a place where everyone is welcome but no one deserves to be. Church should be a place that is bathed in grace. Everyone there, from the pastors to the congregation, should be in a perpetual state of amazement that they actually get to be there. No one ever gets to a point where they think differently about this. If they do, their thinking is wrong.
How damaging is this best-foot-forward prevailing thinking in Christendom, when the bottom line of church is the love and acceptance of forgiven sinners? Damaging enough to undermine our message. This is the day of salvation. This is the open door policy. This is the gospel of welcome.
We have gotten away from the fact that church is for sinners most likely because we have failed to be honest about our own ongoing sinfulness. Sinners are only tolerated on the other side of salvation. Once you are saved, you are expected to not be sinning anymore, so there is a good deal of hiding going on in most churches. If the gospel welcomes a sinner like me, it welcomes anyone. This is the way we need to think.
I grew up listening to J. Vernon McGee from the Church of the Open Door in downtown Los Angeles – the one with the neon “Jesus Saves” sign. Now the sign has been relocated to another downtown building (it’s close to “Hollywood” status as a Los Angeles icon), but the church building, which used to seat up to 4,000 people was torn down over 25 years ago. The church itself has been relocated to Glendora and still goes by the same name, but its legacy as an open door for sinners in downtown Los Angeles is no longer a presence.
There is something sad about that, and something that needs to be resurrected, if not in name, at least in practice, although I love the name, too. It seems to me every Christian church should be the Church of the Open Door. The doors of the true body of Christ are open to anyone and everyone. And they need to stay open.
Next week will be week three in a five-part series on “What is Worship?” I am teaching in an adult education class at Irvine Presbyterian Church, 4445 Alton Parkway, Irvine, California. The class is in the Jack Davis room at 9 a.m. on Sundays. Those of you in southern California are invited to attend. We’re over a little after 10:00 so you might have time to get to your own church service, or you are certainly welcome to attend the morning service at IPC at 10:30 a.m.. The sessions are being recorded so if the rest of you would like to listen in, the audio can be found by clicking HERE. Hope to see some of you there next Sunday.
John Fischer The Catch 
I agree John. If ALL the churches were called Church of the Open Door, they would most likely be filled. I do not attend a physical church because I have always felt that so many “assume” they are better than me, non sinners, holier than thou….. something I was never comfortable with. I have felt far more connected with the Catch and Daily Hope than I ever did in a church. I love the “truthfulness” that you and Marti exude and the honesty you both share with your members.
Hi Carole –
I used to feel as you do, that physical churches were filled with hypocrites. But about 10 years ago, I was drawn to what is now my current church, and it has proven me wrong. This loving group of folks have gotten me through some very rough times. I pray God will someday lead you to a loving church family as well. They’ve helped me to grow as a disciple of Christ and that’s happened in part because of their transparency.
And like you, the Catch has also helped me to grow and learn – thanks John and Marti for keepin’ it real!
It’s sad when people are afraid of letting their true selves known in a place where being open should be the norm, but there is indeed a lot of hiding going on. We are indeed all sinners. But how should a church deal with a situation where it is known someone is engaged in sinful behavior and does not appear to be repentent (e.g., adultery). The Bible says that person should be challenged – but I struggle with that knowing that there are likely other members in the same boat with the only difference being that the sin is unknown.
Walking that line between loving correction of a brother (or sister), and plain old loving on each other and helping each other through whatever sin we are struggling with at the moment is one of the toughest things I know! It would be nice if John would give us a few Catches on his views of that. And what does a “changed life” with the fruit of the Spirit look like? Why can’t we do better as a church than feeling like we have to act like we “have it all together” when we don’t, rather than being honest? Even Paul lamented the diffculty of wanting to do what Christ wants, yet doing something else.
Wouldn’t it be great if we went further than open doors but became “The Church of the Open Heart”?
A mentally ill girl in dirty pajamas wandered in and “joined” us for choir last night. She had just been released from the hospital and was hyperactive. She never stopped moving; rearranging pencils, wandering the room, shaking hands repeatedly, putting her sweater and hat on and off, pulling her hair… yet she did have a lovely voice. What a chance this was to really feel and see what it’s like to react and love like Christ, or to judge and pull away! Some pulled their purses closer – some opened their purses and shared. Some wanted to call the police to deal with her, others drove her home.
In the end I hope we all truly and closely examined our hearts as we circled around her and closed in prayer. I know, sadly, I personally have some serious praying to do, asking Christ to pull wider the doors of my heart to let in more of His love that I may more readily pour it out on others. Amen.
Many were probably scared and simply clueless as to how to deal with her. Frankly, I’ve been in that situation before as well and chance is that, sooner or later, I will be in that kind of situation again. Okay, I cannot say for sure what other people are thinking when they are confronted with a person with mental problems who is chatting up strangers as if they were their best friends, but *I* am always freaked out and feeling helpless. I know that helping these people would be the Christian thing to do, but words cannot express how helpless I feel in such a situation. I sure try to let my faith shine through in my deeds, but that is one of those situations where I say a little prayer and ask God to help in whatever way he deems best simply because that kind of situation is wayyyy more than *I* can handle.
Had to comment on J. Vernon McGee and how i used to jus love getting on his Bible Bus – It aired @ a perfect time, my lunch time, 4 me back when i was a newer believer and work in an Auto-Body Collision Shop at a Ford Dealership and i cannot count how many times his simply, yet great teaching through God’s Word would jus blessed me sooooooooo much – there were many times i went back to work w/ a new fire and song in my heart! “…He washed me as white as snow…” 🙂
In fact it was from listening to J. Vernon McGee and hearing how I could be and do anything yet still reach others for the glory of God – in that grew the idea to become an engineer…
PS Pastor John you always seem to bless me the most when I need it the most and not jus from remembering the many good trip on the Bible Bus – it’s also your repeating: the Church is for us sinners and reminding me of how glad i am to be able to know Him. Mostly ’cause i know that i know, i don’t derserve Him and His great love..!
Magnificent website. Plenty of helpful info here. I’m sending it to several buddies ans also sharing in delicious. And certainly, thank you on your sweat!