What If They Actually Meant It? (Guest Post, Mike Koolen)
Friends, today we have the honor of hearing from a listener of the podcast and Patreon supporter, Mike Koolen. Mike has his own blog that you can find HERE where he provides wisdom, insight, and honesty regarding faith, spirituality, deconstruction, and more.
Enjoy.
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Six years ago, I started in on a journey or finding my faith. I don’t think I ever truly lost it but I was raised Catholic and certainly didn’t follow the doctrine of a good Catholic boy. All through my teens and 20’s and early 30’s, I had faith. I believed in God and Jesus in principle and I prayed. It was mostly when it was about to hit the fan, but I prayed.
On Superbowl Sunday of 2016, I started at a new church and I was incredibly reluctant.
I wasn’t going to be good enough.
I needed to straighten out.
What if they truly knew who I was, they’d turf me in a second.
Fast forward to 2022 and life has changed drastically. I’ve jumped in with both feet into the church world. I’ve taught Sunday school and led a ministry and raised funds for the homeless, etc. etc.
But I didn’t give up myself to become a church robot as I had once feared. It took me a good year of going to church before I fully realized that the people I see on Sunday are in fact real people with real lives.
This leads me to a sentence that I never thought I’d utter, let alone type. One of my favourite worship songs is called Come As You Are. It’s based around the idea that the church and Jesus are here for everyone. It’s understanding that you can bring everything to Jesus and he loves and accepts you. Nothing you can do will ever break that bond.
Steve Austin was a dear friend of mine that we lost too soon (seriously, check out his books). I heard him say on several occasions that we see a lot of churches that say “come as you are” but “what if they actually meant it?”
Typically, when a church says come as you are, they really mean come and conform. Whatever you did in the past doesn’t really matter so long as you change your ways completely and follow what our doctrine says. Think like we do and believe what we do in order to be one of us.
What I’ve always found interesting in this process though is what can be forgotten, what can be overlooked and what is considered a non-starter.
If you’ve been an atheist or mocked those with faith, come on in.
If you’ve struggled with gambling or porn, come on in. Setbacks are normal, we’ll work with you, keep those tithes coming.
You’re a drinker? So are we, come on in.
Struggling with your mental health? We get it, we’re sympathetic but if you could avoid talking about it that would be awesome. Have you tried praying?
You are a member of the LGBTQ community? Are you sure it’s not a phase? Have you tried praying? You have? Sorry then, you’re out. An abomination before God. If you don’t repent and completely turn your life upside down, you’re going to burn in hell.
Does this make sense to you? How does it make sense to anyone?
Countless families have been torn apart and countless lives have been taken because of how toxic this mentality is.
And for what?
We are all made in the image and likeness.
We can even pull out the “God doesn’t make mistakes” if you really want to.
The church is supposed to be the place where the millionaire can sit next to the person experiencing homelessness. Where the alcoholic can bond with the barista. Where the prostitute can hang with the soccer mom.
As for me, I truly enjoy church. I enjoy the community. I enjoy learning. I enjoy giving back to my community in ways that I didn’t previously know about.
But deep down I do wish that when churches put “Come as you are” on the marquee or the front door, that they would actually mean it so that they could accept and welcome everyone regardless of what they’re bringing with them.
Mike Koolen