Heaven and Hell

JOHN KIMBALL, DIRECTOR OF CHURCH DEVELOPMENT

A few years back I read an article citing reasons why the American Church no longer preaches consistently about heaven and hell. It was an interesting article, but it bothered me on many levels.

First of all, every single reason listed was the result of popular [rather than Biblical] notions about heaven and hell— although I could not argue that the reasons were still probably accurate. More importantly, it bothered me that the Church’s neglect of these reportedly unpopular topics also kept her witness to the world (and, frankly, to her members!) incomplete. Sacrificing the eternal perspective on life and ministry leads congregations and the communities they serve to focus solely on today and to disregard the far greater reality of life after death – whether or not that life is with Christ.

I have treasured our CCCC Faith Statement on this issue: “We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.” In other words, everybody will live forever, but that eternity may or may not be pleasant.

Part of the CCCC Church Development process is to bring clarity, alignment and practice to what we believe. It is one thing to passionately espouse something – it is quite another to actually live it. Even within Evangelicalism today, there are things churches emphasize, things they tend to avoid (like sermons on hell), and even things they may not understand as clearly as they should.

A fruitful Christian life – as well as a fruitful congregational ministry – must always see things with eternity in view. Every sermon, every gathering, every conversation must lovingly coax people away from our temporal blindness. We do not live for the moment. We do not even live for today. Everything every person does impacts their eternity, but if the church is lax in guiding people to that conclusion, their perspective on everything is skewed.

There are indeed two resurrections: one is to the glorious Presence of God; the other is to the suffering of hell. A person can call these ideas archaic, but that does not change the truth. Something powerful is lost in the life and witness of a church that neglects to lovingly and regularly remind people about the reality of their eternal destiny.