Churchanity: the cult like practice of attending “church” three times a week merely to sing six congregational songs, give a laundry list of wants, needs, whinings and problems to God, hear two “special” songs, take up an offering, and sit through three sermons (spoon-fed to the congregation so no-one has to think)… and feel like we have been good “Christians” and worshipped because of it. Yeah buddy, we do God such a favor don’t we? Ummm-hum, that will cause people to grow won’t it? Grrrrrr!
It grieves my very soul to think that this milk toast, anemic, anorexic practice we call “Church” has anything to do with Jesus Christ. Where did we come up with this idea that every service has to be a lecture? Does anyone study his or her Bible? In the Synagogue we see Jesus and Paul, the Scripture was read and then it was discussed… The modern abomination is for the hired gun to mount the pulpit and lecture to everyone for 30-45 minutes and get out in time to be first in line at the restaurant. Sometimes a passage of Scripture is read, and then never referenced again in the lecture. Many times Scripture or a passage is merely used as proof text to under gird the point the “professional” is trying to make from the pulpit. (taking text out of context)
Then there is the idea that there is a difference in “Preaching” and “Teaching” as if there is an either/or aspect to them. This idea that Preaching is for the pulpit and teaching is for the Sunday school room is pure bunk! Most preaching is the hired gun spoon-feeding (or bottle feeding) the flock. There is no opportunity to discuss the “message” or sermon. It is accepted that the hired gun is on a higher spiritual level and a better “Christian” so he is above questioning and his word is “directly from the throne of God.”
Additionally there is the, “all we need to know is right here in our 1611 King James Bible! The 1611 was good enough for Saint Paul…it’s good enough for me.” (I have actually heard that statement “preached” by some Independent, Fundamental, Baptist preacher on a local “christian” radio show.) Then scripture is interpreted in light of 2009 instead of the century in which it was written.
In conclusion, if that is all there is to Churchanity, and we are not growing, and being educated in the Church about church history (good and bad) about doctrinal soundness and the differences between essential and non-essential issues… then we deserve to be ridiculed as cult members following a myth religion.
So what do we do? How do we make the change? How do we touch a world that sees these issues in us (who claim to be Christians) better than we do ourselves? How do we make a difference? How do we break away from “Churchanity” and show the world around us the Jesus Christ who is revealed in Scripture? How do we throw off the traditionalism of Churchanity and be true followers of Jesus Christ? I don’t want mediocre churchanity any longer, I want a radical world changing fellowship with fellow believers in Christ who are living Philippians 1:27-28, “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.”
It is a sad commentary that we look on the pews of our modern day churches as a “mission field”, which speaks volumes to our misconception of the Biblical Church mandate. We have watered down the Gospel to the point our churches are filled with lost people… who think they are saved… only to occasionally find out they aren’t. Modern Evangelistic methods have us inviting the lost to come to church where they will get under the sound of the hired gun [i.e. Professional Preacher] and get saved. We present such a weak anemic, anorexic version of the Gospel that everybody is saved… just ask him or her. That begs another question, “Why do we think we have to make the gospel presentation so over simplified?” Jesus never made it easy… look at how he addressed Nicodemus, or the rich young ruler. So the result is our churches are full of posers and wanna-bes that are living a lie… I know I was one.
So where did we get this idea that three sermons or lectures a week constitutes going to “Church?
I may offend everyone but this idea that Church is just a lecture series don’t add up. More and more it seems that the lectures are the requirement for giving the pastor a paycheck. Or the other side of that coin, we are paying the pastor to preach and we expect him to preach… we want the three sermons we are paying him for. How much learning takes place in a lecture? Facts can be given and ideas communicated, and truth can be told… but it is limited one-way conversation! How does a pastor feed the flock and take care of it if all there is… is a lecture? If the pastor cannot have conversation with the congregation and answer the “Why” questions to at least the second degree… How can the average pew sitter learn to give an answer for the hope that is in them?
When did “Church” become this one-way conversation?
Someone asked me about 1 Timothy 5:18 stating it is proof for freeing the pastor from “from worldly labor, that he may focus on his teaching ministry.” Paul went to great lengths to support himself in the ministry, so I’m not sure he was advocating for the paid “Professional” preacher. Especially in the IFB and IFBx movements there has been too much abuse of the paid Professional position. This creates a slippery slope that becomes a vocation. And when you have a small church what does the “Pastor” do with all that extra time on his hands???
But I digress…
… where do we get the idea from, that attending three sermons a week (the lecture series) constitutes feeding the flock (or going to Church)? How can there be learning and growth in one-way only conversation? Don’t get me wrong, I have not arrived, I do not know it all and I appreciate good expositional preaching (hard to find in the rusted buckle of the Bible Belt) and I appreciate godly men who are apt to preach/teach. I am just fed up with what passes for “church” these days. Where is the, “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” That takes a hands-on approach and may include lecture… but is not left exclusively to lecture.
I’m still wrestling with this issue and I cannot reconcile what passes for modern day church and modern day Christianity with what I find in the Bible. And I realize it starts with me… I’m having a Jacob moment here wrestling with what is and what ought to be.
… ] link is being shared on Twitter right now. @zenx, an influential author, said RT @1ndus: Xtreme … ]
We are wrestling with the same issue right now. My husband and I feel the same way. We aren’t interested in being good church attenders, but hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness. We have yet to find a church where the preacher preaches expositionally. All we hear is doctrines of men. What’s worse, the pew sitters in these churches have no idea what the Bible says because they don’t care to study it. Why should they, the mog tells them what it says! Anyway, if you actually read it and discovered that what is taught by the mog doesn’t jive with what the Bible actually says, you are the one who doesn’t understand. After all, you didn’t go to Bible college nor are you god’s anointed!!! GRRRR!
That is exactly what I was told upon leaving fundyland. I was interpreting the Bible wrongly. I had no right to question the mog. I was “nothing but a silly little girl” and “trouble for the pastor” when I began to question baptist baptism and other fundy practices that I could not find to be Biblical.
Now, we are solid Berean Believers. We no longer blindly sit and ingest whatever a man says from the pulpit or radio. For a few week we attended a rather large church. for 3 weeks the pastor spoke on tithing. He didn’t stop at the 10% “mandate”. No he went further and said if you love God you’ll give way beyond that. You’ll give basically all the extra income you have to the church so others can be blessed. He went so far as to say Jesus confirms this practice. That comment got me so mad. Nowhere in the NT are we commanded to tithe…NO WHERE! So to say Jesus confirmed it is a flat out LIE! Further more, the “pastor” was manipulative. He said you will be blessed if you give, cursed if you don’t. You will be robbing God if you don’t give. Finally, at the end of the “sermon” his motivations were made known. Guess what? The church is $6,000,000 in debt!!!!!! To be good stewards the church now was required to pay the debt off in 4 years. So basically the “pastors” and other church leaders decision to get $6,000,000 in debt was now laid on the shoulders of the pew sitters to pay off. Did I forget to mention, the pastors and other church leaders had just gotten back from an all expense paid “retreat” to discuss the churches vision for 2012? It doesn’t appear to me that they are giving sacrificially. We’ve not gone back to any church since.
When believers gave in the NT it was for the purpose of meeting a specific need among fellow believers. Since when is the only we can give is in an offering plate? Why is it wrong to set aside money to meet a specific need in anothers life? Grandpa needs tires? Here ya go! Your friends house burnt down? Hey, here’s all I have to help you get back on your feet. I can also set aside some time and help you rebuild or whatever else I can do to meet a need. Is not giving of your time and talents count for anything? It’s always, money, money, money! Give me more money so the work of God can be done! As if God can only work through a local church and not in individual lives.
Ok, I’m done ranting! I’m just so discouraged! What, if anything, have you come to learn since writing this post? I’m curious to read how you settled the matter.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting Sandra.
You ask how or if I have settled the matter. In a word, no.
We have found a church where the preaching is expositional and I have thouroughly enjoyed the teaching. My soul did not know how starved for real nourishment it was… but.
The membership issue is still a deal breaker with me. I am a Christian, I am redeemed, I am an heir and joint heir with Christ and brother to all fellow believers in Christ… but the requirement is I must join the local assembly in order to be accepted by other believers?? I can’t make that jive with scripture. They say you must join in order to serve??? You can’t serve unless you are a member??? What if my gifts are not in the “service opportunities” the local assembly has to offer??? (and I refuse to put a coat and tie back on for appearance sake)
I can’t find where, in order to be a part of a local assembly, one must agree to that assembly’s Constitution or covenant. In my mind that is no different than joining the Masons or the Elks club.
I have become more cynical in the past 3 years and I see church membership, being on the church rolls, as more of a way to keep up with the cash flow than anything else. And while I do enjoy and find the preaching at this church to be a great blessing… I cannot in all good conscience become a card carrying member simply for the sake of being a member. Recently there was a portion of a sermon that was more or less an ultimatum stating that you should know in a few months if that church is right for you or not. It shouldn’t take you more than a few months to make that decision… we’ve been there a little over two years now. They may run us off, I don’t know. I’ll certainly miss the teaching,
Now I’ll be the first to admit that I have been stand-offish and I have not participated in the way they do things. We do not do Sunday School and I am not at the point yet where I would be comfortable in interacting with a small group. I don’t want to get in a small group and open up to people I only know at church. I’ve been burned before… badly… a couple of times, so shame on me if I put myself in that situtation again. Yet in two years no one as actually just wanted to get to know me and my wife. There seems to be an underlying agenda that requires membership in the club before we can “belong.”
So, that is a rather verbose answer to your question, but, no, we have not figured out the answer to “local” american churchianity. We’ll keep looking. And contrary to what I have been accused of… I’m not looking for perfection… I just want real.
Hi Don! Just thought I’d stop by to say my husband and I have found a church that preaches expositionally. It took us over 2 years, in the Bible belt no less. We’ve been attending for a month now. It’s been so refreshing to hear the Word of God preached. I hadn’t realized how much I missed it. We attended church after church for over 2 yrs. and until now, never once found a church that actually preached the Word of God.
As for jumping in and getting active like we have for most of our lives, I don’t see that happening anytime soon. We can’t even bring ourselves to attending Sunday School at this point. The pastor has asked to come by later this week for a visit. I sure hope he doesn’t come with a list of expectations or think of us as blind sheep. I have a very hard time with trusting pastors. In my experience, pastors have been the meanest men I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting. Before our big move, our former, non fundy, pastor proved me wrong. He was a very nice, godly man who expected nothing from us. In that enviroment we grew by leaps in bounds in the Lord because the Holy Spirit was allowed to transform us. Until then men constantly tried to conform us into their image by their endless traditions of men.
Anyhoo, thanks for sharing your journey out of fundyland and into a true relationship with Christ. Your journey has been a blessing to me and I am sure many others as well.
Sandra,
I’m glad you have found good expositional preaching/teaching. The whole counsel of God is so refreshing.
I understand exactly where you are at and I’m right there with you. God is Good, As we heal he leads us in the paths he has for each of us. May the Lord continue to bless and heal you. (and thank you for the kind words)
Your friend,
Don
Thanks for your response, Don
I have another issue I’ve been wrestling with. During our search for a Biblical church many folks questioned us why it took us so long to find a church to settle into. Some went so far as to question our salvation because we weren’t attending a church regularly. I would inform them that a persons church attendance wasn’t a gauge if one was or wasn’t a true believer. The Bible tells us we are known by our fruits & last time I checked church attendance was not a fruit of the Spirit. Funny thing is, in my experience, a big chunk of regular church attenders have very little evidence of a true relationship with God. If you took their regular church attendance away, one would never know they were professing Christians. I say that with great sorrow.
So here is what I wrestle with. As believers are we commanded to attend church? I don’t see it in the Word of God. I am but a weary soldier of the Lord and am learning as I travel the road of life. I know I don’t have all the answers. Please don’t think I am a heretic looking to find a religion that fits my personal beliefs. I’m not. I honestly want to live my life for the glory of the Lord. That means I have a heart that wants to please the Lord in all I do. I don’t want to simply do something because of traditon. I hope that makes sense.
While we were praying and looking for a church I missed the fellowship of a church family very much. I do have many professing Christian friends and have fellowship with them. So I honestly don’t think we were forsaking fellowshipping with fellow believers but should we attend a church for the sake of attending even though we know what is being taught is not Biblical? I think not, but again I certainly can be wrong. The biggest arguement I hear for church attendance is we have to be under the authority of a local church. The verse obey those that have the rule over you is quoted often when one questions church attendance. One person went so far as to say you can’t have a Father without a mother. HUH? (The mother being the local church the Father being Christ.)
I recall when we first left fundyland 6 years ago how lost and alone we felt.As many have testified before, we lost every friendship we ever had. We even lost fellowship with family members. Most of whom still have little to no contact with us because we left the “family faith”. This journey from fundyland has been incredibly painful for my family. It never ceases to amaze me that all we are guilty of is desiring to grow in the Lord. Yet, we have been labeled heretics and are not fit for fellowship with my in-laws. All these folks profess to be Christians yet shake their fists at us for wanting to know the God of the Bible.
Understanding God’s grace was extrememly difficult for me as well. I grew up with the understanding that God was waiting around for me to mess up then BAM he’d hit me over the head with a club. I had to work hard to keep him happy. I had to work to earn his grace. So when we left fundyland it took me about a year before I could grasp what God’s grace truly is. I heard someone say, “On our best days we don’t deserve God’s grace anymore then on our worst days.” That comment blew me away! I could not wrap my mind around that concept for months! To have the freedom now to work out my faith is, well priceless! Before I had to just mull over things quietly never daring to speak them outloud. Could you imagine the horror of fundy folks if i questioned church attendance? They’d for sure question my salvation! haha!
I hope you don’t mind me working these things out. It is nice to have some feedback in a safe enviroment from folks who are struggling with some of the same issues. My husband and I are alone on this journey out of fundyland. 6 years later we are still struggling. Folks who have not gone down the IFB road just don’t understand what our struggles are.
BTW, You’re right to say God will bring us healing He has and He will continue to do so. This journey has drawn me closer to Him and I wouldn’t have it any other way despite the heartache and pain.
Sandra
That is awesome! What an encouragement that is to me.
“On our best days we don’t deserve God’s grace anymore than on our worst days.” <That is going on my FB status.
As to the subject at hand I find I am very jaded regarding church attendance. I am almost anti-church building attendance. It is a gathering spot and it is convienent but it is not "THE church." The early church met house to house. They broke bread together and observed the Lord's supper without the "Authorized" unleavened square and sip of Welch's Grape Juice. I am of the opinion that the church building is a neutral issue… it is neither biblical nor un-biblical. I believe that it's a man-made tradition that has gotten out of hand, and has become the "Churchianity" religious symbol that it is today.
I am also of the opinion that there are probably only 1 in 10,000 congregations where Ephesians 4 is actually practiced and the members are being trained in ministry as they ought. I may be wrong but I doubt it. I dare say that if you go into most church buildings and ask for the "Minister," I would bet good money that you will be pointed to the pastor or someone on staff, when in actuality that person should be able to say, "How can I help you?"
So I don't lose any sleep about not attending a church service at a church building these days. I have those whose counsel I seek out and respect but I will not trust any one person to spiritually "have the rule over me" ever again. I have men and women who I have the utmost respect for, and I am trying to learn to submit myself to other Christians (with more or LESS success) but I'm not going to go back to being ruled with the Iron Fist of the "Weaker Brother."
Again, you don't know what an encouagement your correspondence has been to me. God Bless you both!
“On our best days we don’t deserve God’s grace anymore than on our worst days.” I have to remind myself of that all the time. I know my sinful self and completely understand I do not deserve God’s grace no matter what I do! I have a healthy realization that I deserve the deepest, darkest pits of hell, BUT God has chosen to make me His own! I am eternally humbled and grateful he chose such a sinner as I! Once I truly got saved the song Amazing Grace came alive. I had sung that song countless times for the first 33 years of my life but it never really meant anything to me. Now I completely understand that song thanks to God’s transforming work in my life. =)
Back to the topic at hand….You’ve done it again! Your feelings towards modern day church is the same as ours. Your right to say that myabe 1 in 10,000 churches actually train folks for ministry. The church should be equipping folks not taking over them. That is why our new found church is so refreshing. The actually teach peole how to study the Word of God and encourage folks to be Berean believer not just pew sitters. Still, I expect some backlash to take place once we fail to jump in there and be the “super saints” we once were. Also, we won’t become church members ever again. We feel there is no need for it. We are part of God’s family which makes us members of the church. In our experience once you become members of a local assembly they feel they have some control over you and you must be in agreement with them 100%.
Tonight the pastor is stopping by for a visit. I am upset with myself because I am nervous about it. Like I said, I have had very bad experiences with pastors and I just don’t trust them. We’ll see how tonight goes…..
The feeling of appreciation is mutual. Your website and comments on SFL have been an encouragement to us as well. =)
Your sister in Christ,
Sandra