The Belt

A devoted and unified Church can be a powerful force in a community or a region - we have to place ourselves in a position through which God can manifest His glory. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth in 1st Corinthians 1:
9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

A devoted Church does the will of God; a divided Church counters the will of God. Our effectiveness in ministry is directly related to our faithfulness to Christ. We can make sure that our hearts are right before the Lord, even if we encounter opposition, and seek to do His will. It starts by making sure that we are in right relationship with our Savior and that we have surrendered ourselves to the cause of Christ. God is calling; we have to ask if we are responding.

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If you follow the missionary journeys of Paul, you see that he encountered opposition.  The church at 
Corinth was a particular church with which he had some trouble, but it was also a church for whom God had a special plan, evidenced by two letters that are contained in Scripture. And, in Acts 18, we find that Paul and other team members went there and encountered opposition, but God told him not to write them off. We can read in that chapter:
7 And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.
8 Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.
9 Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent;
10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city."

I think it's helpful to think about the churches of a community as pillars - of truth, of compassion, of a general sense of morality.  You think of city after city, town after town, where the center of a city's activity, geographically speaking, contains a church or group of churches.  The geography can be a reminder of our position to which God has called us.

A church that has a heart for Jesus and a love for its people and the residents of its community can be a powerful force in a season in which people are searching for hope.  That can be true anywhere you are - including here in the Bible Belt, in the South.

I was raised in the South; I am a student of the history of the region.  And, while we can admit the Church's shortcomings in dealing with societal issues in the past, we can also admit that the Church has present-day potential for good and move forward.  The Church, as we put aside our differences, can move forward in setting a powerful example. 

So, while the term, "Bible Belt," has been used in a negative fashion, we can also recognize that there is a dynamic church population that can put on the belt of truth and the rest of our spiritual armor and gear up for what God has called us to do.   God is calling us, just as the believers in Corinth who were faithful, to seek to influence our communities for good.

I came across a piece by an Anglican pastor, or priest, recently on The American Conservative website.  The writer, Brandon Meeks, stated:

Some time ago, one leading evangelical influencer rejoiced over the decline of “Bible Belt Religion,” commenting that it “made bad people worse.” More recently, another Christian pundit took another swing at the cultural Christianity of the South, one of his favorite punching bags, calling it a form of “toxic religion” that is, at best, an expression of the Faith to be “survived.”

I don't know what qualifies as "Bible Belt Religion," but the Bible does instruct us what true Christianity is.  And, while our religious practice will be insufficient, and we all need to do better, to make a sweeping denunciation of an entire group of people is unfair and irresponsible.  Meeks wrote:

While I would agree with them that wholehearted, full-throated devotion to Jesus Christ would be preferable, I can’t find such dedication even among our Lord’s hand-picked Apostles or in a single congregation since the strange winds began blowing at Pentecost. These critics of the faith of my kin seem to be stricken by a virulent strain of perfectionism.

I appreciate Meeks' appreciation for the people in the local church; he expressed, "I thank God for the Bible Belt people who introduced me to Jesus," adding:

The Bible Belt Christians who raised me could not always give you chapter and verse, but they were always ready with a cup of cold water. At the end of the day, it is the one who offers a cool drink that receives the prophet’s reward, not the one who remembers all the names of the prophets.

And, the line that can make you smile and perhaps bring a tear to your eyes: 

Anyone who ever had a widow teach them about David from a lint-laden flannelgraph; or learned the “Romans Road” from a mechanic during VBS; or was otherwise loved to Jesus by hard-working people with southern accents, should give thanks to the Good Lord for Bible Belt Religion.

So, the evangelical "elites" can generalize all they want and look down at the people in the pews - our desire should be to serve Christ in simple devotion, to love Him with our whole hearts and to love the people with whom we come in contact. The problem with the so-called "theologians" who dominate the Internet is that they have seem to lost touch with what congregations are thinking - and doing.  And, what God is doing.

And, He is very active in our world today.  Because Jesus established His Church and the Church is the prime tool that He is using.  I would trust that we are learning to love Him more and to love others. I am so thankful for efforts, in which God's people, from a variety of backgrounds, even in the Bible Belt, are coming together and seeing that the work of God happens as we work together. 

Making sweeping accusations against entire groups of people based on someone's bad experience is wrong and short-sighted.  But social media and opinion journalism provide convenient opportunities to do so.  It can be helpful to look for ways that God is at work in a community.

I do believe that God has His plan for cities.  In the earthly ministry of Jesus and the missionary journeys of Paul, there were instances of places that they could not minister as effectively as others. As the people of God, we can place ourselves in a position to be used by Him and to be conduits of His grace. If a community is struggling, the local church can strive to address the concerns.  If a church is struggling and is not being faithful, course correction is needed.  As we intercede for the people to whom we're called to serve, we can have repentant hearts, so that God will move through us.