{"id":1990,"date":"2023-03-24T19:08:14","date_gmt":"2023-03-25T00:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/nourishing-vocation\/?p=1990"},"modified":"2025-03-05T14:51:23","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T20:51:23","slug":"is-the-church-still-relevant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/nourishing-vocation\/2023\/03\/is-the-church-still-relevant\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the Church Still Relevant?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By <\/span>Emily King-Nobles<\/span>, NVP Fellow<\/span><\/p>\n

Date: March 25th, 2023<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just some Sunday thoughts:)<\/span><\/p>\n

One of my favorite pastors, aka my father, did a sermon in church today, titled \u201cIs Christianity still Relevant?\u201d. To be honest, it’s a question I have thought about many times throughout the past few years. Organized religion is becoming less and less popular. The Church has become largely associated with political beliefs I see as hurtful. There seems to be more people than ever who have been hurt by the church and are leaving organized religion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I cannot say I blame people for leaving. Honestly, I\u2019ve thought about leaving myself and often get asked why I haven\u2019t. My go-to answer has always been, \u201cThe church is a human institution. It is flawed. While the church and organized religion have hurt me and people I love dearly, Jesus never has\u201d. I still wholeheartedly agree with this answer and the distinction between church & Jesus, but I\u2019ve come to the realization that it\u2019s so much more than that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For, I see the faces of people\u2019s whose lives have changed in a church community, and I always come running back. I\u2019m not talking about people who walked in the church, found Jesus and became \u201csaved\u201d in a one-time event. I\u2019m talking about the people who walked in the church, found people who surrounded them with love and then walked with them for the rest of their life. That is powerful.<\/span><\/p>\n

So to anyone who\u2019s ever asked why I still go to church, why I still believe it\u2019s so deeply important to one\u2019s life, here\u2019s what I wish I would have said. This is what I believe a healthy Church can give to the world:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Love. From the moment I was born to now, I have been supported through the church more than any other place in my life. I never once had to question if people loved me or saw me. Every Sunday, I am asked questions about my life. The questions have changed from being about my favorite stuffed animals to now my major in college, but nonetheless, the interest in my life is there. I know without a doubt that there are people caring about my existence.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. A support team. Anyone who says we can get through this life alone is wrong. We need people in our darkness. As I sat and listened during prayer request time today, I watched member after member share updates in their life and lift up their worries, fears, griefs and celebrations to their church family. Carol\u2019s surgery was no longer just hers. Sean\u2019s mother\u2019s cancer update was something we were all looking forward to. What a gift to have people walk into the trenches with you.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Purpose. The knowledge that your life matters. Look around any college campus today. There is so much fear and anxiety about the world. Hopelessness. <\/span>What is the point of life? <\/span><\/i>In church, in scripture, in Jesus, we find this answer. We find proof that we are created from love and that the creator of the universe is crazy about our life. Even if everyone else in life has let us down and abandoned us, there is a God who leaves His 99 sheep behind just to find me. Wow. That\u2019s a message we all need to be reminded of. We have a purpose.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Grace & Forgiveness. There\u2019s not a whole lot of this in the world today. We live in the age of cancel culture. You say one thing wrong\u2013you\u2019re cancelled. But the church can provide an alternative to this. Forgive 70 x 7 times, Jesus says. The church can be a place of grace. When the college admissions team, the hiring committee, the prospective boyfriend all say, \u201cyour past is too rugged\u201d or \u201cyou don\u2019t fit\u201d or \u201cyou don\u2019t have what I\u2019m looking for\u201d, the church can say \u201cyou are exactly what we need\u201d. \u201cYou are perfect for us\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Fun! Church should and can be fun. Some of my favorite memories growing up were in Sunday School, VBS, youth mission trips, carnivals. . .The church can be fun for all ages.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So to answer my dad\u2019s question\u2026Yes, I think the church is absolutely relevant.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The views in the post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Lutheran Center or St. Olaf College.<\/em><\/p>\n



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