Teens

---

THE PARKING LOT
Where Jesus Is
By Josué Sánchez

Customized Jesus

“How would you picture Jesus nowadays?” The small group leader asked.
My mind started wondering. “He would definitely be a cutting-edge postmodern pastor,” I thought right away. “I bet he would surprise many church goers and administrators. He would most likely read the Scriptures on his PDA and would probably preach his sermons from it. He would keep a blog, dress business casual, grow a weird goatee, listen to alternative Christian music on his iPod and meet with his friends at Starbucks.”

No doubt that many people would have a very different image of a contemporary Jesus: neat suit, polished shoes, implacable hairdo. Eloquent speaker with a fine taste for good music, his well scripted sermons would be telecasted worldwide via satellite. Always smiling, yet calm and collected.
We could come out with many different profiles for a modern Jesus, depending on whom we ask. It is very easy for us to customize Jesus based on our own preferences. We tend to picture a Jesus who fits in our comfort zone. For some people it may be disrespectful to even suggest that Jesus could wear jeans, while others would be cooled off immediately if they saw him wearing a tight tie on a three piece suit.

Church politics

We are inclined to bring Jesus to our side. We even use him as an excuse to justify our choices. “What would Jesus do?” People ask, when they really mean “if I were Jesus, I would…”
Our churches become messy battle fields, with the pastor often caught in the middle, trying to blend styles of worship in a desperate attempt to bring peace to his/her congregation. Well-intentioned members from both sides prepare a list of Bible verses, Ellen White quotes and church magazine clippings to defend their point of view. The pews serve as trenches from which some throw hymnals, while others retaliate with drumstick missiles. In the name of “what would Jesus do” we profane God’s temple with our endless debates. The windows are closed. The air is thick. The sunlight doesn’t come in anymore.

Blogs and online message boards mirror similar disputes, even among the postmodern Christian population that regularly browse the Internet. Emergent Church versus institutionalized religion or blended within well cemented denominations is one of the hottest online discussions.
Pastors don’t escape from it either. We can spend hours arguing about different philosophies of church growth, purpose-driven tactics, the nature of Christ and how our administrators should run the ship.

Like in an old cartoon, a thick cloud of dust covers those who are involved in the fight. There is confusion and loud noise. From time to time a head or an arm sticks out, only to quickly be dragged back into the cloud. Then, we see someone slowly crawling out of it. No one notices her.
Sad and bruised, Sara—a teenager, quietly leaves the church building.

The parking lot

She didn’t leave the church as an act of rebellion against God. Sara simply needed fresh air. As a matter of fact, she didn’t go too far—she found Jesus in the parking lot.

The parking lot is Jesus’ favorite place to meet postmodern youth. “Close-windowed” churches immersed in endless debates and internal politic fights deter him. He would rather be ministering to passerby’s than putting out internal fires. That’s why we can often find him waiting outside the church building in the parking lot.

Casually seated on the hood of his car, he chats with the street youth. There is no sound system, neither pews nor a big screen—just raw gospel. Sitting on the curb, leaning on the fence, standing on their skateboards, young people’s eyes are glued to him. Some of them reach their cell phones to text-message their peers: “come right now, you gotta hear this guy!”

My heart goes out to those teens who are searching God, but that are cooled off by our way of “doing church.” Our communities (and churches) are full of teens who struggle with self injury, sexual identity, depression, abuse and addictions. This is serious. We need to stop babbling and start acting. Lets’ roll up our sleeves and put aside our differences so we can focus our attention on what really matters: bringing young people to Jesus. Time is running out!

I’ll meet you in the parking lot.

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE