THE CITY OF ZOMBIELAND, in THE KINGDOM OF RUST

2011-02-11T13:28:00.000-08:00

If I may, allow me to pose a question….

BUT FIRST, you’ll need some background. SO if you would, let’s take a magical journey together…

(Cue the sound of howling wind. A dark, cloudy sky looms over a lifeless city, as litter and tumbleweeds blow through the empty streets….the litter is my bad.)

This city is part of a region that is has slowly been suffocating over the last 30 years. Industries have packed up and left. The streets seem abandoned. The sun strains in futility to pierce the blackened sky. It’s cold, lifeless, and gray. This is a region littered with the remains of both dead and dying churches. And the ones that somehow seem to be clinging to life are either churches that are stagnant, or are those with no depth, no soul, and no life. People wander through the doors in a daze, stay for a while, and leave. They don’t talk, they don’t smile, and they don’t seem to be alive. They are, for our immediate purposes, Zombies. Church plants start, take their first few breaths, and fail; seemingly within moments. There is no such thing as a passionate and dynamic church body. Any bright, young missionary with the ambition and vision to reach people in a modern and exciting way is quickly crushed under the immense weight of the land of the dead and dying. In fact, if we are going to continue talking about this place, I’m going to need to give it a name….we’ll call it the City of Zombieland, in the Kingdom of Rust (no, I don’t have the rights to any of that, shhh!).

So here’s my question:

How would you go about reaching Zombieland?

I have a hard time believing that any rational human being, after reading the above paragraph, would say, “Roll in with guns blazing and start something new.” I also find it difficult to believe that any real Christ follower would say, “Leave it to the elements, and don’t look back”.

Now let’s talk seriously. I’ll do my best to avoid any post apocalyptic illustrations for a moment, but I make NO guarantees.

Amongst the dead and dying, there are three kinds of churches in Zombieland that survive only by drinking the blood of---- sorry….I told you I make no guarantees.

The first is a church in which people don’t really know each other, nor do they care to. They sing a few songs that sound like they were written by the Grim Reaper, and listen to a message that they glean nothing from. They have no depth to their relationship with God, and there is no concept of church outside the usual Sunday morning “festivities”. They don’t feel the need to broaden their horizons in order to reach lost people. Let’s face it, if God wanted the lost to be saved, he’d give them the unbridled urge to sing funeral dirges and avoid eye contact at all times.

Church number two, bless its heart, is trying…kind of. They seem to understand in their own special way that they need to appeal to a more 21^st century audience in order to reach the modern lost. How do they do this? They buy a few lights and pump up the Tomlin, baby! The problem? They are far less than they believe themselves to be. They are arrogant, over privileged, and under worked. There is no degree of passion or professionalism in anything they do. They fly by the seat of their pants every day. They don’t plan, they don’t innovate, and they can’t be convinced that they can do so much more to reach the lost. They are, in every sense of the word, rotting. They are their own kingdom; shut off from the rest of the world. What they are doing is working for those within its walls, and those outside be damned.

(Clouds billow, the wind picks up. There is an eerie sound on the air. You feel a set of evil eyes fixed on you. You turn around with hesitation to see a shadowy figure standing behind you. His piercing red eyes and uncommonly tall hat can mean only one thing….DUN DUN DUUUNNNNNN!...it- um... it’s the Pope.)

Yep the third church is, you guessed it, the Catholic Church. Now, I realize that I have stated before that the Catholics, while weird, creepy and generally wrong, believe as we do that Christ suffered, died, and rose again. Be that as it may we both know that the Catholic Church is not big on “freedom through salvation”. There is a HUGE Catholic presence in Zombieland, but the Catholics here just aren’t real in their faith. They go to mass, they go to confession (which, can I just say, is the most ridiculous thing in the history of…anything?), and when they leave they forget all about anything they ever heard about God. Even the people within the Catholic Church aren’t being reached! And I’m going to go ahead and add for good measure that young people as a general rule just shouldn’t get involved in any Catholic church…for any reason. You had your chance with that one Father McLaughlin…NO! YOU STAY IN YOUR CORNER!

So I ask you…

How would you change the status quo? There are hordes of young people to be reached; tens of thousands of college students, young families, etc.

The way I see it, the people of Zombieland are in one of two categories…

Category 1: The horde of the living dead.

Allow me to introduce you to the star of the show…the Zombie. Don’t be fooled by their decaying flesh and bloodlust roar; they’re actually far worse than they appear. This is the state of the VAST majority of those living in the Kingdom. They feel nothing. They have no pulse. Of course, they may go to church, but they don’t want a relationship with God. The dead have no use for such things. They’ve heard it ALL before, and they will have none of it. Don’t believe me? Try talking with them. Try to convince them that they can do better. That they can BE better. You know what that will earn you? A first class ticket on the “Vicious Bite to the Throat” express. They don’t want your help. They don’t want your concern. They just want to continue wandering aimlessly into the darkness.

Category 2: The hopeful survivor.

This poor soul is truly alone in the land of the dead and dying. He knows that there is something very wrong with the status quo. But he doesn’t know what that is. He feels deep down that there has to be more to his faith than this. He walks amongst the dead in silence, fearful that any outcry will be met swiftly with a vicious bite to the throat. He knows nothing of the world outside the Kingdom, and he won’t risk his safety to aid those who do. He’s seen his fair share of heroes die at the hands of the horde. He cannot and will not be convinced that things can change for the better. It’s only a matter of time before he is seen for what he really is and dies at the hands of the horde.

Whatever the case may be, one thing is certain; the people of in the Kingdom of Rust need something different. They need something exciting. But, I just don’t know if they’re ever going to get it. Nothing survives there. Pastors and missionaries foolish enough to walk through its gates either wind up beaten, indifferent, or corrupt (seriously, we should talk about the corruption sometime). What would you do? How would you tell someone that truly has a heart for the people in Z-land to go about reaching them in a modern, exciting way? Or, having heard what it’s really like there, would you rather turn around and run? There’s no shame in it. No one would blame you. I certainly wouldn’t. In fact, I’d probably be the first to follow you! If you’ve stuck with me thus far…help me out. Leave a comment. E-mail me. Tell me what you’d do if you were staring down the barrel of the gun that IS Zombieland. Because let me tell you…

It only gets worse…

This will keep me safe from the hot Mexican sun...

THE CITY OF ZOMBIELAND, in THE KINGDOM OF RUST