Basically the title is a way for me to beat around the bush...Yes, this is a list of problems in the church from a young Bible college student full of fervor and naivety. I don't want to bash the church, I am not a perfect church member, the church is still the driving force of light on earth, and I wouldn't mind offering some humble solutions. I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I would like to help bring light to some things that we could all do better as individuals and as the Body. I'm not putting these in any particular order of importance. So I'm gunna stop with all the disclaimers and trust that you feel my heart on this one.
1. Tradition
Tradition has a part to play in who we are as a church. It also has a part in how families raise their children to follow Christ. However, tradition can not get in the way of what the Spirit is doing. With the time changing and different things becoming popular the church has to adapt. That doesn't mean we sell out. The message must be the same at heart, but can me packaged in different ways. NEVER sacrifice the truth for popularity of seeker-sensitivity. This means that the early-bird crowd needs to relax about contemporary rock and us first-raisers need to be accepting of a hymn or an organ every once in awhile. If the difference between getting new folks to come to your church is switching to more contemporary upbeat music, then it's worth consideration. There is sometimes an over-indulgence in secular influence at times, and that is risky. The point is that stuffy ol' traditionalists can keep a church from going by living in the ignorance that nothing should ever change in their church. Honest to goodness I think some churches have becoming social clubs for cackling old hens and pretentious coots. Some people's actions would suggest that only people that they like, and that are like them, belong in their church. Just because something worked in 1978 doesn't mean it does now. It's very important to understand church tradition (i.e. the early church) because maybe they had good things going that we couldn't extract directly from Scripture. Just remember that your church isn't the only one who can do something right.
2. Comfort
If your church hasn't grown in 10 years, it is very possible that the members have become very comfortable with what they have. This spins right off of tradition without even the need for a pause in my thinking. Our church tradition ("who we've been for years now") leads to a level of comfort about church attendance. Some churches stop growing between 300-700 because those are pretty good numbers...don't see any problem with that. That is putting a lid on God's "jar" of plans. That is telling the Holy Spirit that "we are good here, we are highly accomplished, and we will call you when we need you...sir." A lot of people just pull the e-brake on the Spirit in their own lives too. I have done it. I have gotten to a few points in my walk that I thought "I think I really have things nailed down right now." That is to say that I felt confident in my understanding of God, felt as faithful as possible, and for some reason thought I had enough scripture stored in my mind. Those few times look so silly now. If anyone is comfortable in their understanding of the mystery of God, they are a lunatic. Also, this could be a whole different post (and it has been) or another blog even, but America is so incredibly fat and happy with everything. I question often whether I can even understand what it means to have true faith because of how easy I have it. I am typing this on my laptop while in the AC in my second living room. I just got out of my full sized bed and drank some water from the sink. Man, what would I do without faith? It is so easy to have "faith" here because we have nothing to fear...ever! Think about our worries compared to the world? You get the point. My faith waivers more on successes than failures. Meaning, I am more likely to forget God in my success than in my pain. It's real easy to get all Job-esque during those times. I think I have paper thin faith compared to my brothers in South America, the middle-east, Asia, and Africa. They're in a whole different weight class. We don't change because we don't think we have to, and that is disgraceful to everyone who came before us (talk about tradition...).
3. Timidity
No one is more scared to share their faith than the American church. I was significantly more gun-ho about sharing my faith as a young child than I am now. Why is that? I didn't know a dang thing about who Theophilus was, or what "exegete" meant, or the significance of the Old Testament to the New, or any scripture reference at all (not even John 3:16) and yet I still wanted to tell people about him. Where did that sense of shamelessness go? It was replaced by timidity. We are all scared to death of sharing our faith because we are afraid that we won't have the words to say, that we will somehow push them away, and even because we might lose the debate. Did someone forget about the Spirit again? We'll get to that. Part of why we are timid is because we are scared, part is cause we're lazy, and part is cause we're stupid. By stupid I mean that we don't know about anything outside our own denomination of our own faith. How could we possibly engage someone in intelligent conversation about religion if you only know a fraction of one? If you learn some things about other people before you witness that makes you a lot more confident for sure. That doesn't mean you have to sit on the bench until you acquire "adiquit" knowledge, because then you will never move. It also comes from the fear of being wrong or not knowing what to say. If you can't answer something, tell them that. If they expect you to be a Christian theologian they are strange. Seek out the answer for them, but it's okay not to know going in. Last thing to remember is that "God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline" (2 Tim. 1:7). Our timidity is a direct lack of faith in the Holy Spirit that God gave us. The Spirit is not a back-up plan.
4. Disbelief
I have been trying to figure out why our churches are so stagnant and immobile, and I think that part of the problem is disbelief in God. You might be thinking "it isn't church if they don't believe in God, you fool!" That is correct. I think a lot of churches have become social clubs. Think about it: it is a community, like high school, where there are the popular kids and the geeks and the jocks (in this case, men in their 40's who do manual labor for the old ladies), and it's a place full of juicy gossip (especially since people are willing to air out their dirty laundry or "confess"), and it's something people can feel involved in. Some people even love church because it is one area of their life where they can have power. It is very concerning that people play the church game. I'm sure I'm not the first person to notice this, but if you haven't yet, it is something to keep a cautious eye on. People who go to church may "believe" in God because it's necessary to get into the club. It isn't easy to believe in God, I mean there are literally hundreds of religions plus millions of personal beliefs that they pulled out of their...ear. It is a convenient insurance for those who are more scared of hell than excited for eternal life now. I think everyone needs to go through a time where they really have doubts or questions about the existence of God. To have a deep belief you ave to have reviewed all your doubts and possible fallacies. If you don't explore your doubts, then your faith is very shallow and your belief must come into question. It is safe to say that not every "Christian" in your church believes in God, and a lot of others can't tell you why they believe in God.
5. Watered-Down, Weak, Powerless Gospel
We have done a great job at creating God in our own image. My god happens to be a republican, who dislikes all the same people I do, and who wouldn't do things that I think he shouldn't do, and a guns rights activist. People are foolishly and dangerously distorting the true image of God so that they can be comfortable and justify their sin and doubt. There is also those who make Jesus a pansy and God a back-patting-teddy bear. I believe God's grace is more important for other people to hear about than God's wrath, however one without the other is only half the story (that is 50% (that is an F)). If you give people the watered-down sissy gospel, on purpose or not, you are leading people to believe that being a Christian is always easy, always fun, and will make you rich and happy. It is false advertising. If I said I had the cure for cancer (oh boy, another weird analogy) you would be pretty pumped if you had cancer. What if I left out the fact that this cancer cure would kill you because it's poisonous. Pretty dumb analogy, but I'm not that creative (i.e. my titles). The point is, I am portraying a cure, but not telling you that it will be your doom also. In a similar, possibly less deadly scenario I could tell people that being a Christian is just about going to church and keeping your nose, mostly, clean. It's all camps and fun stuff, and we always float around in white robes, but we can drink and cuss cause it's not a big deal, and come as you are and you don't have to change, and Jesus is chill all time, and the Bible is only necessary to have in case of a natural disaster because that's the only time that we need to be active in the community. And I almost forgot, we need to baptize you ASAP so that you can be healthy and wealthy. You will "win" folks to whatever gospel that you portray. Don't falsely advertise, give people the truth in easy to understand terms then get deeper and deeper. Imagine that... I think there's even a name for that...oh yes, "discipleship."
6. Mindless Sheep
Robin Sigars once said, in a sermon about marriage, something to the extent of "just because the man is the leader of a marriage, doesn't mean that the woman should leave her brain at the altar." That's not only very important in marriage, but also for the flock at church. If you sit there every Sunday listening to the same preacher and never questioning what he says or studying God on your own, then you are being a mindless sheep. Same goes for when you read a book. Some upperclassmen at school laugh at some freshmen when they talk because they always say "I read this...blah blah." What's even funnier is when they say that to a professor! Funnier still is when it's a book the professor assigned! It's just one book, not an inspired one either. A book almost always has a slant, and will mostly portray one or two people's interpretation of research and/or scripture. Just because one preacher, book, song, or movie tells you something doesn't mean it's God breathed. The Bible is the only infallible work. It is the only source of pure truth. That doesn't mean that other people's commentaries or opinions are useless, but you have can't be a zombie-stooge. Getting the Bible for an hour (or less) one day a week (or less) isn't good enough. No one can ever have a full grasp of the total mystery of God. Maybe it's part of our apathetic, self-fulfilling, check-list faith.
The other six will have to wait, because any more on this one and no one will read it cause it looks like a novel. Thanks for reading, please comment and let me know if you need prayer for anything too. Love you all, and will finish this later.
