As the crow flies, Bethlehem Baptist Church over in Bethlehem is a short distance from our home. When we heard an explosive-sounding thunder and lightning boom in a storm sweeping through Saturday afternoon, we never imagined the damage that would result to anything around here, much less a church. The Bethlehem Baptist sanctuary burned to the ground, starting with the steeple which apparently took the lightning bolt.
A cell phone video posted online showed the steeple as it flamed high and then fell into the raging fire. Once the fire engulfed the sanctuary, there was no stopping it. One media picture showed fire leaping out where the stained glass windows had been. With such utter destruction, I can’t imagine how devastating the loss would be to the membership of this church, one with 100 years of history.

By 6:00 that evening the church posted this message online:

“By now you have heard that our church was struck by lightning and has burned. Please be in prayer not only for our church body but those brave men still battling the fire in this heat. We are so very thankful for them. We will have church service tomorrow at 10:30 am in the Bethlehem Elementary School gym. We invite everyone to join us! A building is not the church. God’s people are His church! God is so very good!”

I was impressed by those words, by the grace to say in the face of devastation that God is very good; and yes, it is true: the church isn’t the structure, isn’t the bricks and stained glass, isn’t the steeple. Buildings may fall but the church will still stand. Throughout history that’s been the case. Plenty of church buildings have been burned and bombed, but the church prevails by faith.

Faith under extreme circumstances can produce some wonderful things. I think of the Emanuel AME Church where a regular Wednesday evening Bible study turned into a bloody massacre. Faith held that church—the people—together and made them stand tall in forgiveness and grace. Where evil came calling on that church, its people are growing and becoming stronger.

Bethlehem Baptist will be a stronger church, having gone through the fire. The burning away of externals reveals what’s really important in a humbling kind of way. A friend who is a member there said that the Sunday service (held in the elementary school gym) was wonderful. I wasn’t surprised. The fire pulled people together in unity. A great loss does that; it makes people embrace each other. That love is what Jesus came to show.

Perhaps the traditional focus on beautiful church buildings is because it’s much easier to build a structure than to build beautiful people who really do love like Jesus. In my work I am around some people who believe that Christians are bigoted, self-centered, superior-acting, judgmental people who don’t care about the environment. I reject that blanket stereotype since all Christians do not fit that description, but I wince when I read things online and hear people of Christian faith being very unchristian. When that happens it’s a reflection on all of us who identify as Christians.

Many Christians are disappointed these days with governmental rulings that run counter to biblical teachings. Some sour grapes attitudes of Christians have gone public, but we really don’t have to act that way. New Testament Christianity was born under oppressive government. The church doesn’t need the comfort of friendly government to survive. Actually, the church will grow stronger without that support.

By its definition we don’t enjoy suffering, but it comes to us—fires, sicknesses, deaths, all sorts of tragedies—at some point in our lives. For Christians, those things are opportunities to see life from a higher perspective. “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice, to the extent that you partake of Christ’s suffering, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding you.” (I Peter 4:12-13)

The next time I hear thunder rumble, I’ll remember that steeple crumbling to the ground and the grace that made a congregation stand strong in a storm. Life is good because God is.