Today I was asked a question that truly stumped me. "Is there a Christian presence in Fort Collins?" The person asking me that question had heard that nearby Colorado Springs had a Christian presence and was wondering if Fort Collins was similar. He was thinking of moving here, but my answer to the Christian presence question was going to be part of what helped him decide whether to choose Fort Collins or somewhere else. What am I supposed to say to that? I'm a Christian. I live in Fort Collins. So is there a Christian presence here? I'd like to think so. If not, I had better get down on my knees and do some soul searching.
I lived in San Francisco before moving here. I suspect this guy would automatically assume there's no Christian presence there, but there is. I know that presence. I've lived among it. And I think the Christians that I know in San Francisco are some of the most honest, thoughtful, non-hypocritical Christians I know.
So what exactly is this guy looking for? What are the words beneath the words in his question? To be honest, I don't really know for sure. But I have some guesses.
I graduated from high school in Colorado Springs. The city went through a recession right around the time that I moved away to go to college. (M go Blue! Rah Rah. And all that jazz.) Housing and commercial property became so cheap that Christian organizations from Southern Cal. began to stream in. The Springs was a comfortable place for conservative Christians to move because it had a strong military presence and there were already a few Christian organizations located there. Christians increasingly started getting involved in local and state-wide politics. They were a force to be reckoned with and, I have to say, none of my recollections of that time period were at all positive. I was just glad that I could escape during the school year.
So as best I can figure, this guy wants to know if Christians run this place in the way that they've tried to run Colorado Springs. Perhaps he wants to know if there are gated Christian communities here like there are down in the Springs. Or maybe he's trying to gauge the political climate in Fort Collins since Republican and Christian are synonymous to many folks these days and that was his round-about way of asking.
And now I find myself in my own dilemma. Although I was able to give a brief reply and then shove the question off for the elder of our church to deal with, I'm now faced with the idea that this couple might come to join our church some day. And to be honest, if it were up to me, I'd do my best to turn them away. I don't want to have to deal with people that think like that.
But if it comes to that (and to be honest, it already does "come to that" fairly often with the people who are already in our church) I know I'll welcome them warmly. I'll help them find their way around Fort Collins and nod and smile when they express their opinions about politics and weirdo tree-huggers.
Then I'll proceed to be me in their presence.
I've found that nothing is more unsettling to an insular, comfortable Christian than another Christian who is doctrinally just as reformed and knowledgeable as they are, but who's a vegetarian, bikes rather than drives to church, wants to use the Church grounds for a garden rather than nothing but a bunch of grass, and who believes that when God said, "Let there be light," the light was followed by an inflationary period in which energy turned into matter which eventually aggregated into stars and planets.
And perhaps, as grumpy tree-hugging me learns to love grumpy insular them, and they in turn come to love me as well, then, truly, there will be a Christian presence in Fort Collins.
The couple wrote back, trying to explain better what they were getting at. The husband wrote, "I probably should have explained what I meant by Christian presence. We were just wondering whether or not there are some strong churches in the area, and whether or not Christians and Christian beliefs and values in general are acceptable in FC. There are some parts of the country where the biblical values and beliefs that we hold dear and strive to live by are likely to be ridiculed and belittled openly and where obvious antagonism toward Christians is likely to be expressed. Down here in Mississippi we are in what is referred to as the bible belt, so Christian beliefs and values are very accepted and are even the norm as far as what is socially acceptable. Those sorts of things are what we were wondering about there in FC."
ReplyDeleteMy response: "I think that, as Bible-belters, you'll still feel quite comfortable here in Fort Collins. There are not only enough churches, church activities and church groups to be involved in that you can surround yourselves with Christians, but there are also enough non-Christians that you can reach out to the lost, be challenged in what you believe and challenge others in what they believe."