Seeing the response on the www to Mike Guglielmucci by the Christian community has caused me to really think about where the church is really at.
Please don’t misunderstand where I am coming from. All that has happened to Mike and the effect it has had on the many who looked to him as a role model is heart breaking. I certainly do not want to trivialise all that has happened.
But, as I see the amount of response, the amazing feeling and debate this has produced, I can’t help but wonder if our perspective is not quite what it should be.
Why can the church get so passionate about Mike and yet seem so indifferent to a far greater tragedy in terms of the number of affected lives?
Consider this,
Right now 2.5 billion people are living on US $1-2 per day
According to UNICEF, 26,500-30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”
Around 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted.
Everyone of these children are precious to God – you know “the least of these” yet for some reason we are not disturbed about this.
Christians today have a global income of 16 trillion and if they gave 1% of their income to loans for the poor through opportunity international we could in less than one year improve the lives of the poorest 1 billion by 50%.
You know if we bought one less burger, went to one less conference, bought one less designer label, traveled economy class, we could avert a disaster that in my opinion is greater than what we have seen in the last week.
Maybe it’s time for reflection?
Andrew
Filed under: church | Tagged: church, healer, hillsong, Jesus, life, michael guglielmucci, mike guglielmucci, planetshakers, poor, poverty, religion
Very, very true…
Amen & Amen…yes you have hit the nail right on the head, this is for me and I’m sure many many others, thanks Andrew. I’ve read the statement from Michael and my heart aches for him and his family, there but by the grace of God go any of us.
I agree . I also think and amazed at how Christians rush to judgement and how they love gossip which is condemned biblically
Amen
Thank you Andrew for a bit of perspective.
Look at the beautiful face of that little boy in Basecoe! How can any of us see this need and not do anything about it? If that was my son I would move mountains to feed and care for him so why should it be any different because he is not my flesh and blood? I can give up a coffee and a designer label.
I do agree with what you are saying but I have also seen the flip side to this. A lot of these families mentioned and churches mentioned are huge advocates for children in poverty and give lots of money into missions works all over the world as well as supporting missionaries.
On a weekly basis it may not receive as much press compared to the last week but I believe the very heart of the church is to change our world. Proverbs 31:8-9
nice article.
Andrew, as someone who has been preaching and writing about what you write here for the last 5 years, it’s always nice to find another voice out there. For all the people who will come out and say how much x and y and this and that are doing, when you balance the books there is still a very huge discrepancy with churches spending on average 95% or more of it’s financial resources on itself. The ‘tragedy’ (as one pundit has put it) of Mike Guglielmucci is not only a testament to what media feeds on (with over a weeks worth of press eing dedicated to the issue)but we in the Church need to realise that our Christian Ghetto with it’s cult of personality and celebrity is partly to blame both for the issue and the press it is receiving. And with respect, Kim, if the Churches you mention were truly advocates for mission etc, I’m not sure they could honestly justify their excessive monuments to self with accompanying wedding chapels and product superstores all under the neon lit banner of “Jesus: Hope for Humanity”. Besides, money helps but it is also a very nice ‘buffer’ between the world we need to reach and our real obligation to idenitfy with ‘the least of these’.
There has been a massive shift going on in the supernatral realm since this has occured. The nation has a new perception of the church & is confused about what truth is now. I believe that the church is going to have a new makeover. “Worship in spirit & in truth”. We certainly have alot to learn in the body of christ. I also believe that something like this of a massive significance has had to occur for what this Nation is about to see. Just watch & see what God is going to do.