Labels

I've definitely had the idea of labels on the brain for a while now and I find it all very interesting so this post is more of my pontificating!

I've recently started going to a baptist church near where I have moved to and they have been looking for a minister for a while so have many guest preachers and a few regular speakers from their own congregation. We've spoken to every preacher after the service and the speaker last Sunday was very interested in the church we used to go to (Holy Trinity, Sittingbourne). He had heard of the church and was quite eager to talk about the church and New Wine (a group of churches that organise events and conferences). What I found almost funny was his eagerness to label the church, and hence my husband and I, 'charismatc' and 'evangelical'. He looked on us as kindred spirits, people who were on his wave length and perhaps people who would understand hs frustration at the way the baptist church was run.

I've heard these terms bandied about before without fully understanding their connotations. I understand that 'charismatic' means led by the Spirit and 'evangelical' as a church that wishes to spread the good news and encourage others to believe in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. But really do these words mean other things? Why do we have to have labels in the first place?

Obviously this preacher understood these words to mean full of vision and forward thinking. He assumed I liked a certain type of worship music and wanted to see the church do amazing things in the name of Jesus. And I do. The difference is I don't believe in labels. I don't believe Jesus was all that bothered about what His followers were called or described as, as long as we had God in the centre. One of Jesus' prayers that wasn't answered was for church unity and I think labelling groups of followers goes against that prayer. I think the way we worship Jesus is immaterial as long as we do it. The world looks at us arguing and disagreeing and must think if we can't get along with each other, we don't really have a clear answer. All the churches have much more in common than we think.

Speaking to other Christians about difficult issues such as homosexuality, women and marriage I have come to realise that I would be considered much more liberal than most Christians. But I just don't believe in pushing my opinions on other people or judging others. I'd much prefer a lovely debate (some may call them arguments!) and meeting people where they are at. The best conversations I've had with people about God come from listening to people where they are at and it's so interesting hearing people's stories. On Friday I was talking to someone at work about what they believe, which had come about through a talk about dealing with death. It made me realise so many people just want someone to listen.

People need Jesus and love, not legalism and labels.