A defense attorney, his defense team and their client sat around a conference table in a small side room at the county courthouse. The defendant shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Legal documents littered the table. The attorney collected his thoughts, shook his head in frustration, took a deep breath, and spoke.

"Things are not going well. I wish we'd done a more thorough job interviewing your brother before we put him on the stand. The prosecution did a lot of damage to his testimony during cross examination. Blew some holes in it I'd say. I'm not sure the jury believes his story. Why didn't you tell us about his psycholgical problems?"

The client hung his head. "I didn't know he'd been to three different psychiatrists."

The attorney sighed and sat back in his chair. "Unfortunately at this point, he's all we've got. We have no choice but to put him back on the stand and try to rehabilitate his testimony."

But rehabilitate the Church? Is this an appropriate use of the word? A more accurate rendering is "rehabilitate the testimony of the Church."

What is God's original intent for the Church? Obviously such a question cannot be fully addressed here. But briefly, Christ created his Church to embody his fullness in the earth - to reveal his glory, to testify of his goodness and his many attributes.

Jesus calls us the "salt of the earth." Part of the Church's role in revealing God's glory is to help preserve the world against the ravages of sin. But what happens when the Church fails in its mission? Is the world deprived of a more accurate picture of God? When the Church fails to show the way, don't others - false prophets or witnesses - step into the vacuum and offer alternative answers to the world's problems?

What happened when the white, evangelical Church failed to come the aid of their black brothers and sisters fighting for freedom in the 1950's and 60's? (See Reconciliation). And how are we, the Church in America, perceived by the unredeemed in our own land today? Are we respected? Are our ideas accepted? Is our counsel followed?

Every nation throughout history has been guided by a philosophy. Every nation takes counsel from some source (Psalms 2:2). At one time in our history we were guided by the Judeo Christian ethic. But through the years, as the Church weakened, so did our testimony in the land. Today, if we can work to repair the damage done by generations of racism and other failures in the Church, our testimony can be rehabilitated. And we will once again be able to return to our historical role as the nation's counselor.

In living out its motto of "Heal the Church, Heal the Nation," HEAL works to encourage the destruction of the barriers between believers of different denominations and colors. As we pro-actively build affirming relationships across racial lines, we help to rehabilitate the testimony of the Church in the land.

"... and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
(Acts 1:8 NIV)