A
few years back, Steve Stone, the pastor at Heartsong Church in Cordova,
Tennessee, learned that the lot next to him had been purchased for an
Islamic Center. And what did the Christians in the community do when
they heard that an Islamic Center was opening up? Well, they grabbed
their picket signs and protested it.
Unlike
the well-intentioned yet misguided Christians who took to protesting
the Muslims, Pastor Stone placed a sign out where the lots met that
said, "Heartsong Church Welcomes Memphis Islamic Center to the
Neighborhood." Stone’s church even invited the Muslims over to the
church to share a meal. In a touching moment, the Muslim women brought
flowers to give to their Christians hostesses.
Instead
of protesting against the Muslims, Heartsong Church lived out the life
of Christ and started the process of reaching the unreached. Because of
this approach, relationships are being built, bridges that Jesus can
walk over rather than walls that would obscure one's view of Jesus.
Somewhere
along the road to where we are, many churches have become confused and
started to think that being filled with slander, wrath, malice, and
anger – characteristics of the old self (Colossians 3:8) – is how we
should respond to those different than us. In many circles it has
become improper to even dialogue with those that disagree with you
because you wouldn't want to appear accepting of them; that might cause
people to think that you are like those you disagree with. We don’t
just do this with other religions, we do it with other denominations and
even churches within our own brotherhood. And on a personal level, we
do it with other people. You can't spend time with so-and-so or have
others see you talking with him or her because they may think you
approve of what they are doing. Too bad that Jesus didn't take that
advice when he hung out with tax collectors, sinners, and the forgotten
ones of society.
But,
we like to keep Jesus at a distance. We like to sing along to Carrie
Underwood, and say, "Jesus take the wheel." Yet then we see a road that
we want to go down - a road that we know that we shouldn't go down
without Jesus. We say, "Jesus, I know you'll understand. I'll pick you
up on my way back, but I want to go down this road. Could you just wait
here for me? I'll be right back." We drop him off at the corner so he
can't influence us in our social interactions. We keep our distance from
the least of these because if we didn't, it would hurt our reputation.
The
story of Heartsong Church, welcoming the Islamic Center, didn’t just
end with a church being Jesus in their community, welcoming their
unreached neighbors into the neighborhood. Across the world in Kashmir,
the contested and violent religion between India and Pakistan, the
story of Heartsong welcoming the Islamic Center was covered on the
news.
Pastor
Stone got a call from a group of Muslims from a small town in Kashmir.
The Muslim man said that they had been watching CNN when a segment
telling the story of Heartsong Church came on. And the action of a
church outside of Memphis touched the hearts of Muslims on the other
side of the world. One of the community's leaders said to those who were
gathered, "God just spoke to us through this man." Another said, "How
can we kill these people?" A third man went straight to the local
Christian church and proceeded to clean it, inside and out.
Pastor
Stone said that he was just trying to love his neighbors, as he says
Jesus instructs him to do. And that love is always contagious. Small
actions, when linked to Jesus, can instigate extraordinary things. As a
result of loving their neighbors in the Memphis area, some Muslims in
Kashmir said, "We are now trying to be good neighbors, too. Tell your
congregation we do not hate them, we love them, and for the rest of our
lives we are going to take care of that little church."
