As a twenty-something Christian, I have some concerns about the church today, specifically the Lutheran church because I am one it's many members and workers. I really got started thinking about this in our staff Bible study the other day when we were in Acts and studying the absence of the Holy Spirit in the church in Samaria until the apostles came to visit. So it appeared to me that while the church in Samaria believed in Jesus, there might not have been a significant change in their actions and lifestyle.

So I wonder. If we all believe that our doctrine most accurately communicates the message of the Scriptures, then why aren't people running to the truth? Why would a church body proclaiming the truth be dying? That makes no sense if this is all about having the correct teachings. I would challenge that the way we proclaim what we believe has very little to do with what is said or written. I think it has everything to do with our actions or inactions and how we treat and interact with other people.

I think we get stuck in this idea that people will do what they want to do and there's nothing we can do about it, so we will just let them figure it out on their own. Let's not forget that the Bible compares people to sheep who will follow the herd regardless of the leader. It's when we get stuck in this idea that we tend to shut down. We convince ourselves that we can't make a difference in someone else's life. In this emotion of self-defeat, we decide to circle the wagons and focus on how we can keep ourselves safe from and uninfected by the "sinful" outside world.

Unfortunately, too many churches and Christians find themselves in this rut today. The Bible teaches that we are to be in the world, but not of the world. This means that we need to be friends with people who aren't Christians. If all of our friends are Christians, Satan is winning. He wants us to be comfortable because when we are comfortable we do everything to avoid discomfort. In other words, it's all about us and what we want. When it comes to our faith and our church, how many of our decisions are really about us and what we want?

How can we forget one of the most poignant moments of Jesus' life where the Pharisees question Jesus about which is the greatest commandment? Jesus says "love God and love your neighbor". These are the two things that Jesus says we need to consider before any action or words. We often ask about how what we do loves God, but our neighbor is often the victim of our lack of consideration. Do we do certain things because it's our system/tradition or because of how it shows love to our neighbors? I think these are important questions we need to ask.

From the observation of a 25 year-old, it seems to me that we have a much harder time loving others than we do loving God. The Christian church is constantly grumbling against each other whether in the form of "cult-like" accusations or bitterness and jealousy of the success of another church body. Paul writes in Ephesians 4 that we need to rejoice in the similarities in what we believe, not nitpick about the smaller stuff. Is communion really more important than the fact we all believe that Jesus died for our sins, rose from the grave, and our belief of this will lead us to heaven? Not a chance.

This doesn't mean communion isn't important, but it's not most important. Neither is female pastors, styles of baptism, speaking in tongues, or style/format of worship. In 1 Peter 3:15, it is written to always be ready to give an answer for the belief you have, but to do so with gentleness and respect. Gentleness and respect usually occurs in conversations rather than stereotypes and hasty generalizations.

So the question from all this remains. Where's the love? Not the love for God...that is clearly evident with most churches. The love for others...where is that love? Why is there so much hate in Christians? The Christian church in America is dying across all denominations. Let's be the generation that changes that. Let's be the generation of all ages of people that starts to love people again.

Until we learn to love people, the church that we are a part of will continue to die. And non-Christians will continue to be perplexed by a message of love masked in hate.