A "Dangerous" Church

I remember a conversation I had with someone who had been to UCF a few months and wanted to know a little more. At the end of our conversation he called us a "dangerous church." Dangerous in the sense that our desire to follow Christ takes on a barbaric, unconventional, sometimes inappropriate expression - but it IS unmistakably following Christ. Dangerous in that we are not bound by the usual thinking of most churches, dangerous because we are focused on the world, dangerous because we are clear in our focus, and dangerous because we don't seem to take the same path as most new suburban churches.

I think one of the things that makes us dangerous is the responsiveness of UCF as a community.
-A few weeks ago we received all the commitments necessary to provide 25% of the funds necessary for Mike and Amy Rodgers (missionaries to Ethiopia). Initially we committed to 17% of their support (which we raised in one day in Feb.). But two months ago we realized they were running short on their full support and needed to get on the ground in Ethiopia in August to begin language training. We committed to picking up another 8% of their support. You guys have stepped up in huge ways to make sure the mission of Christ is fully funded and fully resourced. Thanks for being responsive to this need.

-A few weeks ago, I talked with Rich Garretson who is leading our Habitat for Humanity work here in our community. He told me that over the last two weeks he has been overwhelmed with the number of people who have signed up for Sept 8th and Sept 15th. We have all we need, but he isn't going to turn anyone away. Thanks for being responsive to a simple opportunity to serve people in our backyard.

-We are approaching the 4 year mark of feeding our homeless friends every Saturday in uptown Charlotte. And we aren’t talking about 20 or 30, we are talking about over 100 each week. And it isn’t only about feeding people, it is about using a meal to build relationships with friends… friends who happen to not have a house.

-8 months ago, I knew I couldn’t ignore God’s directions to care for orphans. It started in James 1, but spread to the other parts of the bible. It began in my heart and mind but was exploded in my face on the streets of Ethiopia. In the last few months God has led several to begin the adoption process, we have a passionate point leader (Ron Smith) making plans, we held our first adoption workshop led by Aimee Pfitzner with 16 families represented who are open to what God has for them regarding the orphans of the world, and we have begun a plan to help fund adoptions for years to come which has over $30,000 in it at this point.

-on top of this is 8 houses built in Mexico, a family service every week like KIDSTUF, middle school and high school communities that are thriving, and a growing focus on changing lives one on one.

These things have left me thinking about who we are as a church. "Dangerous" is a good word. We respond to God, we respond to our world, we respond to our community and we respond to people! We engage what God puts before us and we make it happen. I talk many times with people who wonder how a church our size loves people this much. I mean we don't have a thousand people knocking these things out. The fact of the matter is those churches that do have a thousand people usually only have about 20-30% of the people actually loving people around them. I'm not sure but I think we probably have at least 75% of the people doing something to express God's love in our world. I wonder what a church that has 100% of people loving others looks like.

Note: At this point some of you are saying, "wait a minute, what do you mean by love people that much." All people love, all churches love... right! Well, love is measured by action not by words. People and churches can say they love people, but love is a verb! Love is responsive, love is active, love changes people, love changes the world around us. I love the way you guys love. Thanks for loving!