The Most Important Issue Churches Are Not Talking About
Dan Bouchelle

The last few years have been full of controversy among churches. There seems to be no end to the controversial subjects churches are being forced to address. Some come from within when our brothers and sisters challenge our traditional views and practices. Others are coming from the larger culture but spill over into the church. Regardless of their origin, the number of issues being reconsidered is huge. They include leadership models of church, worship practices, what is or is not part of “the gospel,” the mission of the church, how to interpret the Bible, the relationship between church and state, racial history and justice, gender roles in the church and family, LGBTQ matters, plus many others.

None of these issues can be discounted as unimportant and some are absolutely essential to address quickly. As anyone who follows my blog or social media knows, I am deeply concerned with addressing the issue of race. But race is only one of several huge matters we must face now.

Still, there is a limit to the number of subjects any church can discuss at one time. We are paying today for failing to have hard conversations at an earlier time. Now we are being forced to have too many at once. Delaying hard conversations never makes things better. It only gives problems time to grow deeper roots.

All that said, the most important subject I think churches need to clarify for our well-being is hardly being discussed. That is God’s power to act in the world today. I’m not talking about speaking in tongues or many of the charismatic gifts which have created controversy from time to time for the last 40-plus years. I’m talking about trusting a God who still leads his church and acts in the world beyond the power of human beings. I’m talking about moving beyond functional deism to trust that God is still active in making things happen in the world. Trusting that prayer is not just a command or act of obedience, but a source of power and direction. Believing in a God who can break through spiritual strongholds, open closed doors, direct the heart of a ruler, lead the harvest, and supply the needs of his people.

About eight years ago, I heard an American missionary speak at a larger international conference in another country. He claimed that God works through providence, which he did not explain, but made it clear that God does not act in the world in any supernatural way today. All we have is our bibles, the power God put in our minds and bodies, and God’s promises to act at the end of the age. According to him, God’s Spirit is dormant today.

Afterwards, when I was in a room with some national leaders who trusted me, I asked them what they thought of that message. I got a long pause and observed great discomfort in the room. Finally, one of the brothers who had traveled from several countries away said the following:

“All our lives, the white man has been telling us that there is no such thing as demons, spiritual warfare, dramatic answers to prayer, or miracles today. We smile and we nod our heads, and then when the white man has left the room, we look at each other and we say, “that poor man has not had enough experience to know any better.”

While I am no charismatic, I do believe the church still has an active God who goes before us, moves in the world, and overcomes the lying forces of evil. I believe our God is still Lord of the harvest, indwells us with his Spirit, directs us, and “prepares good works beforehand for us to walk in them.” If not, we are without hope in this world. If our hope is in human beings in local churches knowing enough and obeying enough to save this world, we are to be most pitied of all people. The church has hope because our God transcends all other powers in the social-political realm as well as in the spiritual realm. He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. He offers more than hope for the afterlife. He gives power for life and transformation today.

The church is growing fastest and having the greatest impact in the parts of the world that believe in an active God. In western cultures with a functionally deistic god, the church is in trouble. I know there are many problems and excesses that crop up when we open up to a God of power, but better that than the deadness that happens when we cut ourselves off from our only real hope: the great God of power whom we meet in our risen Lord and is at work in his people who live by his Spirit.