I feel like I have missed something, somewhere. Before I left the Chicagoland area for Evansville in 1997, Promise Keepers was doing well. Men were getting motivated, taking up the challenge, and becoming the leaders they were supposed to be. We were finally taking back the cause of Christ. Women of Faith was also doing a booming business. Christians were pushing back and claiming their rightful place in this country. While we still had a lot of kingdom work to do, we were out and about, doing it. We were being heard, and we were not going to stand by idly any longer!
Fast forward ten years. It’s a different world now, post 9/11. Bible bookstores have become Christian bookstores, and have become places where mostly women shop. (I have asked why, and been told that the sales demographics prove this out.) There is enough Christianized fiction to fill several aisles, where there are only small sections, oddly tied together, for men and finances. (We won’t even go into the lack of Bible reference books and study tools.) It seems like every possible people group has its own specialized copy of the Bible anymore. (Do we really need a “Recovering Football Junkie NIV”?) I don’t recognize even half the musicians and bands in the CD racks, and frankly, I don’t care to. It sounds little different from the stuff on secular radio, most of which I don’t like to begin with. I can’t find a t-shirt in my size with a design that I like in these places. (Yes, I wear an x-large. Deal with it.) Some of the designs look gothic to me—which I don’t care much for—or are blatant rip-offs of commercial logos. Promise Keepers? One hardly hears about them now; they’re only having one event this year. New Man magazine is online only, and has been since 2007. Moody Magazine stopped publication in 2003. (Something about declining sales.) Even the Navigators stopped using Daily Walk and Closer Walk devotionals a few years ago. Now they’ll e-mail e-maila daily devotional to you.
That’s right: The Navigators will send you an e-mail devotional six days a week. Moody’s Today In The Word is not only an e-mail, but a podcastpodcast. (I get all three, including the printed version as well. The joys of being an alumni....) Yes, I understand it costs less to use e-mail. But I like using my Bible, and it’s hard to do that unless I print out the e-mail, if I get it. (Spam filters are an article for another day.)
Does anyone out there memorize scripture anymore? Or, has that gone the way of inductive bible study and reading the Bible through in a year?
Sundays: Used to be, they were for resting, and for going to church. Even God rested on the seventh day (Ge 2:2). Sunday evenings, there were youth groups that met before or after service—but nevernever during. Wednesday night was choir practice, prayer meeting, and Awana, Pioneer Clubs, or Royal Rangers (depending on your choice of doctrinal beliefs) to keep the kids occupied. Now we program our Christian youth to death.
And we wonder why our children are leaving the church in droves. They’re tired!
In some cases, Church is optional, much less church membership. One used to belong to a church and only left it if you moved away; now one might belong to several churches, depending “on the kids”, “on the programs”, or even “I like the 45 minute service that is mostly music and very little speaking.” (Admission: as I write this, the missus and I are between churches—and looking.)
The church used to want as many people involved in ministry as possible. These days, there’s a vetting process that makes many of us think twice about volunteering for any duties outside of leading a small group—and we think twice about that, even.
There are fewer church choirs now. They’ve been replaced by “worship teams.” This is not a bad thing, but further reduces opportunities for ministry. Have we replaced worship for a slick, concert-style experience? Where are the Bibles and hymnals, with the songs of the faith? They’ve all been replaced with huge TV screens and the lyrics and the verses get flashed on them! Whatever happened to preachers preaching “Thus saith the Lord” and the concept of sin? Do we even preach about the redeeming blood of Christ, living for God, and the reality of Hell?
Or, has it all been replaced by “speakers” lecturing us about how to be good parents, how to spend our money wisely, how to be nice people to our neighbors, and “Godly Living” (which is different than Living for God)?
And, do we even care if it has?
Now, don’t get me all wrong here. I am all for the use of technology, and modern music, and a readable English translation of the Bible. (And, as I age, the use of larger font types as well. Since when did it become okay to use half-point font?) I am for the use of one’s Bible for everyday living, and any help we get in that department is (and should be) welcome. The world is vastly different today than the world I grew up in.
Nor am I advocating that we return to a romanticized version of an era that really existed, but looks much better in hindsight. This era seems to be lodged in the 1950’s for some reason, and frankly, the nostalgia overwrites the way things really were. I don’t really want to go there, and I suspect you really don’t either. (Besides, Flannelgraph materials and overhead projectors are getting reallyhard to come by.)
But I am all about making the church a little bit more of church, and not an overpsychologized, angst and guilt ridden place where we all must be perfect and not offend anyone and be all seeker sensitive. I suspect part of the problem of the Church Universal is we have gone too seeker sensitive, too far into the realm of Purpose Driven-ness and filling niche, boutique ministries, and gotten too far from what makes the Church, the Church.
In short, and in my opinion: we have, in our attempts to reach the lost, become too much like the world. In our attempts to “become relevant”, we have actually lost our relevance...and quit being salt and light as a result.
Even shorter: since we are now little different from the world, why bother with church at all?
Dear friends, the Cross of Christ is all about offense. It is a stumbling block (Ga 5:11). It’s not supposedto give us warm fuzzies. Church is not supposed to be a psychological clearing house, a religious coffee joint, and a place for a crossbred religio-spiritual concert. It is a place about getting right with Jesus Christ It’s about being surrounded by “a great cloud of witnesses” (He 12:1), but not looking back (Lk 9:62). It is a place where the Family of God comes together, to hear the Word of God, to have their faith strengthened, to share in Holy Communion, and to pray to God and Worship Him alone.Christians are to be in the world, and not of it. We are called to be a “people for God’s possession” (1 Pe 2:9). We don’t have to stick out radically a la John the Baptizer, but we shouldn’t necessarily blend in like we are sheep, either. (Although the 23rd Psalm does say “The Lord is our Shepherd” for a verygood reason. We all are like sheep (Is 53:7). We should be different. And, we shouldmake a difference, because we are a new creature in Christ (2 Cor 5:17).
My gut reaction is that, while we need to maintain good production values, cutting edge ministry, and being warm and loving not only to each other but to those who visit (Remember, kids: Love the sinner, but hate the sin!), we need to add back solid theology, biblical preaching, doctrinal teaching, church discipline, music that honors God, and maybe even the old-fashioned altar call more than once every quarter. We need to become the Church of Jesus again, and not the church of religious fuzziness and psychological way station.
We might also want to bring back all day singing and dinner on the grounds, too...but I’d settle for just having Bibles and hymnals back in the pews.
Enough for now.
(Posted 5/20/09)
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