Wednesday I spewed vision for The Esther Project and 2011. We’re breaking almost all of the rules and seemingly aiming to drive readers away in droves, but it has to be done.

In short: The Esther Project is becoming Bible-study space.

Serious Bible-study space. Theology-style, Bible-study space.

Not apply-the-scripture-to-your-life space.

Not use-the-Bible-to-make-a-post-modern-point space.

Not what-does-the-Word-say-about-my-passion space.

Bible space.

Why? Because the Church is the West is becoming anemic.

Which is not to say there aren’t some important and very interesting conversations going on. I love the modern Christian conversations that are going on.

1. Anytime you want to get coffee and talk about a digital revolution and it’s impact on the Church, I am so there. The Internet – especially the two point oh kind – is changing our world like the printing press and the television changed our world, and the Church has to keep up. I will brainstorm and plan and design and postulate into the wee hours of the morning with you.
   
2. Social justice is my middle name(s). (Not really. Katherine is my middle name.) There is a sense in which the Church has been all talk and condemnation for too long. I dislike that we’re known for what we’re against, and that we have not loved people like Jesus loves people. I long for the day when the government doesn’t need to provide social services because the Church is being the hands and feet of Christ. Let’s set up soup kitchens and shelters and clean out the foster care system.

But, as I suggested yesterday, all of it lives or dies on the Word.

If we don’t have answers for the homeless men we’re feeding, we’re just nice people. If we write books about our faith in the next century with no mention of Christ’s return, we’re blind guides.

It’s true that without love, we’re merely clanging cymbals; but without the Word, we’re dead air time. Both are worthless.

I’m certainly not saying that we need to be theologians before we start designing interactive worship services, or buying diapers for crisis pregnancy centers; that’s ridiculous.

But I am saying that at least a decent understanding of the Word needs to be a priority. A huge priority. And we’re failing at it.

Because what do you say when a co-worker asks if God gave her son cancer to teach their family something? How do you respond when your non-Christian family member laughs about your Bible being rife with contradictions?

When the television tells your children that all gods are the same, people just call her different names?

When your spouse needs healing but it doesn’t seem to be happening?

When a friend doesn’t believe God would disapprove of her getting an abortion?

When a homosexual neighbor asks if you think God really does “hate fags”?

Do you worship a Jesus found at the cross-section of “Coexist” stickers and Eat, Pray, Love and religious tradition? Or do you worship the Jesus who is the Word made flesh? How do you know?

Do you sing the words on the screen no matter what, or do you know when they’re unbiblical? Do you accept whatever a Christian author writes because it’s published, or do you scribble scripture references in the margins to warn future readers? To you accept whatever life throws at you because you don’t know the power available to you?

Theology is not always obviously applicable. It rarely results in clear-cut To Do lists, or five-step programs. Often, the only thing it could even hope to compel us to do immediately is pray and submit, but most of us could do with a lot more of both of those things in our lives and a lot less of the former anyway.

Theology – even at it’s dullest –does, however, reveal the nature of God. It opens our eyes to His beauty, His attention to detail, His perfection, and from there we can believe for the practical and the applicable; from there we learn to love.

All the rest lives and dies on the Word because the One who died and yet lives, who taught us how to die so we may have life more abundantly, is the Word made flesh.

I tried a half-dozen times to come up with a really catchy, sensational beginning for this post and I didn’t like any of them. So I’m not going to insult your intelligence, and just tell you what I mean to tell you.

I’ve been thinking about this space.

And I’ve made a decision.

Not the kind of decision you make from thinking and praying about something, though. It was the kind of decision that seems to be making itself for you, and all you have to do is take a step back and notice it charging you. That way you can call it a “decision,” I suppose, just before it mows you down and you call it a “disaster.”

Timing is everything. Or so my mother likes to say.

I’ve read a couple books, visited a couple websites, prayed a few prayers, heard a few sermons, roughly planned 12 months of student ministry, sat in several meetings, and read at least a dozen blogs and articles that have all led to this decision. Individually, they were harmless; collectively they were charging me.

Western Christians today don’t know the Bible. And it’s becoming a crisis.

More than that, I’m starting to wonder if Western Christians know how to read their Bibles, never-mind studying them. I’m starting to wonder if Western Christians believe in the Bible, or if part of our lethargy about it comes from the belief that we’ll probably just be disappointed by it.

Disclaimer: I’m not a scholar. I’ve never taken a single collegiate class on any aspect of our faith. I haven’t even been a Christian for a decade. I’m sure that a year from now, I’ll have a better idea of how little I know.

Which is why I, of all people, should not be able to argue from the scriptures against a portion of a pastor’s book. I should not be able to explain, from scripture, what a preacher couldn’t explain in his own sermon. I should not be the one defying an “evangelist” who Tweet-ed a link to the “Contradictions in the Bible” poster with no further commentary than, “You have to admit it’s interesting.”

After discovering that my frustration with yet another book isn’t the author as much as it is his audience, I realized what I do have.

I have a great church that teaches the Word. I have great pastors who know the Bible, continue to study the Bible, preach the Bible, teach the Bible, and – best of all – believe the Bible. I also have a dorky attraction to study and research. All of this, I want to share with you.

This space, at least for 2011, is becoming Bible-study space.

I love social justice, personal discipleship, student ministry, gardening, etc., but it all lives or dies on the Word. (More on this idea Friday.)

We have to do better. For ourselves and for our dying world, we have to do better.

If you know this stuff – help me. Start your own blog and teach people, or write for us here. Hang around and expand, correct, etc. in the comments. Post links.

There won’t be much room for easy, surface-level comments. There won’t be many catchy, “How to” or “Five steps” headlines. There won’t be many clear calls-to-action. Basically, we’re violating almost all of conventional how-to-write-for-a-blog wisdom, but we need to go there.

If you’re not convinced, come back tomorrow and let me try to persuade you one more time.

Thoughts? Wanna come with me?