Not unlike many abusive relationships, there is still some good being done by the Church. This “good” is what keeps us coming back.  

Someone reading this need to know that you can abhor the features of your local church, and yet still hold the pastor in esteem. It is also possible that your biggest opposition can simultaneously be your number one hero. This incongruous, seemingly impossible scenario only happens when you put spiritually transformed people living in dirt bodies in one building. We must acknowledge this parallel injunction early on in our servant-hood if we stand any chance to stand at all.  

My youth pastor often said, “We are created to fix the problems we see.” Too often I meet the guy who “hates church” and refuses to do anything about it. I come from a DIY (do it yourself) niche in the music industry. The idea is that no one else cares because they don’t have a reason to care. I’ve spent days and nights gluing, stapling, taping, recording, and burning my passions to distribute to people. I don’t think that a real spirituality can exist among lazy followers. Give me someone who generates original thought in the midst of conformity! Churchianity is the thing that says, “Wait for man’s approval before you think about moving forward.” This new movement sits in contrast with a voice of encouragement to those who are taking the gospel (which only means “good news”) to previously unattainable heights. DO IT YOURSELF. Don’t wait for your friends to stand up. You take a stand.  

Part of me is scared of what the Church has become; scared that what we’ve done for so many years has become such a turn-off to those who don’t believe, that we may have done irreparable damage to some. We have to change the way we approach those we are trying to reach. We have to be willing to meet them on their territory, rather than ours. Don’t misunderstand me, though. I’m not suggesting that we should compromise who we are and put ourselves in a position of temptation to do what we know is not right. Paul saying “by all means, save some” doesn’t mean we become enablers, it means we identify our audience and know how to relate to them on terms they can understand.  It’s what the apostles did, and it’s certainly what Jesus did. We have to use a practical application of the Gospel in our everyday lives, or we will be in danger of completely shutting out the outside world to the Truth, and, consequently, fail to follow Jesus’ command to “draw all men unto Me." We cannot do that until we move out of our seats, and into the streets, though. 

Church is not where people get saved. 

At least not in today’s church. Today’s church does little more than serve the needs of believers who already hold fast to the Gospel dispensation. Don’t believe that? When was the last time someone who was really, truly “lost” darkened the doors of your church, sat through a service, and came up front during the altar call to turn his or her life over to Christ? If you have an instance, discount it if that person was “recommitting” or “rededicating” their life to Christ (for the first, second, or tenth time). I’m talking about someone who previously had nothing to do with church, who had no desire to know the God you and I serve, and who never had to learn the Ten Commandments in Sunday school as a child.  

You may think that sounds harsh, but isn’t that who we’re called to reach? Aren’t those the people we’re called to serve? Jesus said, “It’s the sick that need a doctor," but every week our churches are filled with people who fit comfortably into our world. We choose to only associate ourselves with those whom we share a common belief with. We don’t even associate with most outside our own denomination. In fact, most of the time, when we do cross those man-made denominational lines (was Jesus a Presbyterian, a Methodist, or one of those crazy Pentecostals?), it’s usually to have some heated argument about eternal security, predestination, or whether or not modern-day tongues is “devil talk”. We grab our nice clothes, drive our expensive cars, and put on our best face for our weekly visit to the Sunday Social Hour, and the perfect world we’ve created. It is, indeed, a self-absorbed dance we take part in (unless you’re Baptist, in which case you know dancing is a sin). 

Church is not where people get saved. 

Jesus knew this, and Jesus lived this. His entire ministry was spent traveling. He continually met people on their terms, and on their turf. This fact proves itself out time and again if you read through the Gospels. Jesus commanded a crowd only a handful of times. One of those times was what we refer to today as the Sermon on the Mount, and in that instance His message wasn’t even to a large crowd of people; He was speaking to His closest followers. It just so happened that hundreds showed up. The other two times, he fed four thousand and five thousand people, respectively. Any other time in Jesus ministry, however, it was more personal, more intimate, and more direct. 

There is one thing that sets apart Jesus’ ministry, and the early church, from the Church today: DESIRE. Jesus created such an insatiable desire in people that on two of the three occasions listed above, men came out of the city to hear him speak (which doesn’t even take into account the women and children) without giving a thought to bringing any sustenance for the day. He commanded such a desire, that thousands of people gathered on a hillside to hear Him give a devotional to His most intimate friends. He didn’t have to convince anyone, and He didn’t have to beg; all that needed to happen was for people to get word that He was around. He simply spoke, and people showed up. 

That desire is something that people can relate with, and what resonates in another person, because it’s so much a part of who we are. In the sense of the modern definition of what it means to be a Christian in America today, too much has been clouded by Purpose-Driven this, and Best Life Now-that. We have wrapped church up in Starbucks, and dressed up like arena-rock worship services that are more seeker-friendly than sincere.   

Most of all, it’s our disgusting sense of what I call the “bubble mentality”. It’s the music that is marketed as a “tool of evangelism” that does little more than serve as an alternative to the “evils” of rock and roll music for our youth. It’s the cheesy, horribly designed t-shirts that give you a smarmy Christian slogan that plays off the popularity of the day.  It’s the “WWJD” bracelets, the alternatives to YouTube, and all the other countless ways we’ve tried to “Christianize” things, all the while leaving ourselves completely detached and irrelevant to those we are supposed to be trying to reach.  

It’s all the ways we’ve tried to create “evangelistic tools”, only to totally miss the fact that none of what we market, manufacture, or sell to one another does a thing other than to further distance us from those around us. It makes me wonder, where is the Christian grocery store, the Christian gas station, or the Christian barbershop? When will I be able to go to my local Christian Gym to workout (while wearing my Lord’s Gym shirt, of course), and when can I finally get a Holy Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese?  

Where exactly do we draw the line between a healthy alternative, and complete isolationism? When I think of all these things, I think of the countless number of people who’ve taken Jesus’ command to be “in the world, but not of the world”, and turned it on its ear for the sake of protecting themselves from what they sometimes don’t have the faith to withstand. If Jesus were in a grave, He’d most certainly be turning over in it. 

Jesus didn’t need any of the extraneous. The early church apostles didn’t even need it. If the early church operated like the modern church operates today, they would have never left the Upper Room. Worse still, I think that there are some in today’s Church who wouldn’t have even made it to the Upper Room. They are content with what they hear from others, but lack any kind of experience themselves. But the apostles weren’t content with staying in the Upper Room. They left the Upper Room, got out of their comfort zone, and stood in the face of certain persecution, when being a follower of Jesus was a far less popular thing than it is today in the comfort of a free democracy. They were persecuted and laughed at, and gave a response that would be the catalyst for a movement that would be the definitive driving force of the next 2000 years. 

So why are we content to stay in the Upper Room? Why are we content to conduct ourselves in a way that is self-serving, self-aggrandizing, and totally cut off from the outside world? Do we lack the desire to serve others, or are we complacent enough to live with a faith that is good enough for us, but not good enough to share with the ones who really need it? 

That is the heart of the issue, but it doesn’t have to be that way. We can serve others, by denying our own wants. We can reach others, by being so real, so transparent, and so genuine in who we are that others will WANT what we have. How else can we be effective in fulfilling the Great Commission?   

Sometimes I wonder: If we were to compare ourselves with those Jesus came in contact with, who we would look more like?  Would we look like the woman at the well, giving all she had willingly?  Would we look like the whore at Jesus’ feet, waiting to be stoned by those who thought they were more holy while crying tears of regret?  Would we be the ones holding the stones, waiting for the word to let it fly? Or maybe, just maybe, would it be possible that one of us actually looked like Jesus, in word and deed?

I’m ready to put down my stone. I want to love those who are unloved, show compassion on the compassion-less, and treat people the way Christ would, rather than just talk about it. 

Church is not where people get saved.  Get out of your seat, leave the Upper Room

This is an excerpt from their upcoming book, Real On Nine – effecting change in the Church of the 21^st century.