“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
~Jesus in Matthew 22:39

As I have been thinking about the state of the world of late I keep coming back to this column written by New York Times columnist David French.  Months ago by now he wrote about the differences one can find in churches that focus on fearing the world or loving your neighbors.  This is a helpful distinction in our current political climate. 

For what it’s worth, David French identifies as an Evangelical Protestant.  He grew up in the South.  His perspective on religion is often interesting to read in The Times because we come from different places in the “church world.”

Anyway, when writing about the differences in American churches David French shared a helpful analysis.  He wrote, “When I talk to Christians who are struggling with their faith, one of the first things I ask them is, ‘Were you raised in a fear-the-world church or a love-your-neighbor church?’  Most people instantly know what I’m talking about.  The culture of the church of fear is unmistakable.  You’re taught to view the secular world as fundamentally a threat.  Secular friends are dangerous.  Secular education is perilous.  Secular ideas are bankrupt.  And you’re always taught to prepare for the coming persecution, when ‘they’ are going to try to destroy the church.  The love-your-neighbor church is fundamentally different.  It’s so different that it can sometimes feel like a different faith entirely.  The distinction begins with the initial posture toward the world — not as a threat to be engaged, but as a community that we should love and serve.”*

Do we see the world as a threat to be engaged?
Do we see the world as a community that we should love and serve?
Our perspective matters a great deal.

Love,
Pastor Lauren

* David French, “Were You Raised in a Church That Fears the World or Loves Its Neighbors?” in The New York Times, April 20, 2025. 

Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash

Thursday Thoughts 1/15/26