First Church of Mars: A Practical Guide to Christianity for the Interplanetary Traveler

By Dennis McFarland

This book was not written for the church. There are enough books written that expand upon Christian morals and values. There are volumes of theological works from a countless number of Christian perspectives. A brief glimpse into history uncovers a history of scandal and abuse all perpetrated by the hands of the early Christian church. At this writing, there is a vast Christian subculture with its own art, music, fashion, and cultural forms of expression. Television personalities preach biblical themes of humility and servitude while, at the same time, they purchase private jets and live in ridiculous excess. Small churches are closing at an alarming rate, and larger congregations are getting obscured in the smoke and hype of commercialized worship services. Arguments against “the faith” are becoming increasingly articulate, and media coverage continues to cast a growing shadow over whatever good the church might be accomplishing in the world. In all this, it is easier than ever to be lost. This book is written for the lost. It originated as a result of an epiphany based on an article about the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars. Once a year, Curiosity would stop and celebrate the anniversary of its arrival on Mars by stopping briefly to sing “Happy Birthday” to itself. Then, once again, it continues through the dry desolation of the planet surface on a path of discovery. When you stop and look past all the scholarly debate and man-made traditions of Christianity and look at the basic message of love and salvation presented in the scriptures, you will discover a beautiful picture. Over time, the simplicity and accessibility of this message has been diluted and overcomplicated. This book is written for the lost soul who, with a little bit of curiosity, has a desire to discover the simplicity of that message. It might be too late to change this world…but maybe we can change that one.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781647018146

Dennis McFarland

Dennis McFarland is a bestselling author of novels and stories. His short fiction has appeared in the American Scholar, the New Yorker, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, Best American Short Stories, and many other publications. He has received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Wallace Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University, where he has also taught creative writing. He lives in rural Vermont with his wife, writer and poet Michelle Blake.

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First Church of Mars

A Practical Guide to Christianity for the Interplanetary Traveler

Dennis McFarland

Copyright © 2020 Dennis McFarland

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2020

ISBN 978-1-64701-813-9 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-64701-814-6 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

The Land I Will Show You

Roommates

How Sweet the Sound

Where Is the Beach?

Your Faith Framework

Atmosphere Killers

Poison Ivy of the Mind

Being Good Sheep

Quiet Time

Don’t Do the Math

The End of All Things

Shout-Outs

Preface

This whole project begins with a random article that I read titled, The Loneliest Birthday in the Universe. The Mars rover, Curiosity, landed on August 5, 2012, and started broadcasting. For a few years, it would use a series of beeps and clicks to sing Happy Birthday to itself on the anniversary of that date. That is the same day as my birthday.

I first conceived of the idea for Thicker Than Water Ministries shortly after I converted to Christianity. I have always been the odd man out, and with a few exceptions, I always found myself at odds with other Christians. Christianity drastically changed my life, and I have always struggled with the negative stereotypes associated with the faith. Thicker Than Water was my answer to those problems. When you strip away all the man-made traditions from the faith in its raw form, it has the potential to change the world. Over time, the ministry has taken many forms, and I have held the hope that it could change the world close to my heart. Simultaneously, I have watched as repeated scandals and cultural conflicts have further disoriented increasing numbers of people from the faith. Then I read the article above and a radical idea came to me: if I cannot change this world, perhaps I can change that one.

The First Church of Mars offers Christianity a fresh start. The problem is, what changes need to take place to ensure that Christianity does not make the same mistakes on Mars that it made here on Earth? I have written this book with that future congregation and its leaders in mind. This book communicates the basic truths at the foundation of the Christian faith. It also paints a picture of how that faith can look on a new world without all the unnecessary baggage that encumbers it here. It is a picture of the faith as I see it with an optimistic heart that cannot give up on the calling to be a world changer…and lastly, it provides an opportunity to put a loving community of people on Mars who can sing Happy Birthday to my lonely little buddy, Curiosity, the Mars rover.

Chapter One

The Land I Will Show You

The Lord said to Abram, Go from your country, your people, and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

—Genesis 12:1

Colonization of Mars at this writing is purely speculative and is a far-off distant concept. There are plenty of challenges right here on our home planet to keep us occupied. I will acknowledge right now at the beginning of this book that it is too early to even think about how to build a church on the surface of another planet. But I will add that the church was never a place…it is a people. It will probably take a certain amount of faith for the first settlers on that new planet, so it is not too far of a stretch to imagine some form of faith-based community developing early on there once settling begins.

It is interesting to consider if there will be a series of biospheres or if the early settlers will all live under one giant dome. Technology expands so rapidly that the development of suits that would allow settlers to roam freely on the surface of Mars might come shortly after settlement is established there. Generally speaking, I am not sure what the majority of believers think about other intelligent life in the universe, but I have always held out the hope that it exists somewhere. If so, who will the first missionaries be to rewrite the scriptures in the new Martian tongue? It seems from photos we have from there that the surface of Mars is dry and dusty. What if once we begin to settle and explore there, we find out that under the surface, the planet is teeming with life? From my perspective, sitting here at my laptop, I could daydream for hours, considering the possibilities those first settlers could encounter. I am nowhere near the level of physical fitness it would probably require to travel there myself, so those daydreams are all I am likely to have.

You might ask yourself, why am I daydreaming so much about Mars? More specifically, why am I daydreaming so much about the possibilities of church…on Mars? The bottom line is that most of my experience with church on this planet has been negative. At this writing, my wife and I are once again without a church home. If people mean to turn to church for sanctuary from a hostile and strenuous world, what are they to do when they find the same conditions inside the church that they do out in the world? Some would say, It doesn’t matter what church you attend, they all have the same problems. That statement has never set right with me. I have always tried to look past the ugliness and pain to try to see a world where Christianity is the force for healing and togetherness it can be. Where can the Christian faith trade and borrow from culture in a way that it adapts like people do over time while, at the same time, do so without negating its foundational truths that give it the power it has? If we are to see the remnant move forward and see it actually expand to Mars and beyond, then how do we figure out what to take with us and what do we leave behind? I want take a little bit of time here up front to make a few general suggestions of how the future congregation might operate more effectively.

A New Church Model

Church rises and falls on leadership. I have said for a long time, A fog in the pulpit makes a mist in the pews. It is my experience that a team led church will be more successful than one with single leadership. This is true for many reasons. A single leader is prone to believing his/her own press and falling prey to narcissistic behaviors. Believers in their congregation take on the personality characteristics of that leader that leads to stagnation. The longer that leader is in place, the more extensive that stagnation will be. Also, this is a source of division because birds of a feather flock together. There must be cultural diversity in leadership, or a congregation will become more like an exclusive club than a hospital for the spiritually wounded. Pastors are covetous of their pulpit time, and in many cases, there might be a more gifted speaker in the congregation than the one in the pulpit. Damon Thompson said once, I go to church more than Jesus does, because I have been in some services when he wasn’t there. This is never more evident than when an uneducated and unexperienced pastor is leading the services. Our culture is entertainment driven, and everybody wants to be the face, but very few people understand the weight and responsibility that comes with that position.

The perfect scenario is one where leaders of the church share the responsibility of the pulpit. This is better for so many reasons. The foremost of these is that it spreads the burden of leadership out evenly rather than resting it on the head of one person. If several leaders are on a speaking rotation, this not only exposes a congregation to diverse views of the gospel, but it also provides opportunity for spiritual growth and perfecting of the craft for those in leadership. Depending upon how the rotation is established, this also allows for several biblical aspects to be explored simultaneously. This will serve to keep the congregation challenged and also fights off the stagnation. Another benefit is that gifted leaders are more likely to be discovered and utilized more frequently. I suspect there are a great many outstanding leaders and gifted speakers just sitting around uselessly because the pastor of their church is covetous of his/her pulpit time and too stubborn to back off their agendas. Strong leadership promotes exponential growth.

There also needs to be some flexibility concerning practice of doctrine and tradition. I have many friends who speak in tongues or practice a prayer language. I do not interpret the scriptures the same way they do, and I believe differently. But these are still my friends and siblings in Christ. We can peacefully coexist with each other and, at times, can find humor in poking fun at our differences. Too many congregations get hung up on doctrine and tradition at the expense of healthy spirituality. There are some doctrines that are crucial to the Christian faith (a little bit about that below), but most of the traditions can be treated with some flexibility. This