Artificial

I’m spending this week at Children’s Pastor’s Conference with KidzMatter (the company I work for). It’s hosted in the Gaylord Opryland hotel in Nashville, TN. One of the major features of the Opryland is its sheer size; it’s the largest American hotel and convention center under one roof outside of Las Vegas. This place is a maze of hallways, staircases, doors, and dead ends. It almost needs its own version of Google Maps.

Another thing the Opryland is known for is its lush indoor gardens. The interior of the resort is full of tropical plants and rushing waters. Inside this tropical paradise, it’s always sunny with a high of 75º and about 80% humidity. All the time. It’s crazy. You begin to forget after a time that you’re even inside. It feels like you’re wandering through a tropical forest that just so happens to have paved walkways, giant Christmas trees, and $20+ buffets. They’ve created an entirely artificial environment. When you step outside the doors of the Opryland, you realize that you’ve been missing reality. Reality is that it’s 20º, cloudy, and buffets are just $5.99 across the street.

The sad reality is that many churches have created the same artificial environment. I read an article earlier today from Time Magazine about the segregation of the American church. They cite a survey which revealed that just 8% of American churches have a significant racial mix. If I based my view of American society solely on your church, would I know there were such people as African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Latin-Americans and even Native Americans; or would I think that we were a nation that was solely Caucasian? Would I know that sometimes people struggle in life, or would I think that everyone here has a perfect life? Would I know that you care about people, or would I think that Americans are cold and heartless? Would I think that America loves every era of its worship music or would I think that all of our songs were either written 150 years ago or 15 days ago? Would I see the diverse heart and soul of Jesus Christ reflected in your church or would I think that people had forgotten who He was and what He had done?

Reflect on your church. What artificial environments have you created? What falsehoods do you need to break down? What doors do you need to let a blast of cold air through? How are you going to break through the glass ceiling that supports the artificial environment? How does God want you to break through?