Social Club Church

One of my great concerns with Christianity is our view of the Church. I believe that if there is one single doctrine that has been misunderstood, misinterpreted, and just plain twisted it is the doctrine of the Church (Ecclesiology for any theology buffs). There are many different aspects to our "heretical" view of the Church. The one I would like to discuss today is the Social Club mentality.

Now some of you are already saying, I know all about this. I have heard this all my life. Well, so have I, but I don't think we really understand what it means. In the past few weeks I have been reminded about the true purpose and function of the Church. But too often as we look for a church we really never even consider the true purpose of the Church. We never consider what God would have us to do. We have made Church about us and our needs. In essence we have created a selfish Christianity and a self-centered view of the Church.

Let's take a typical scenario. A young family with school-age children move into a new area. They begin looking for a church. The first church they attend is small (about 30-75 people). They look over the bulletin and notice that the church doesn't have much in the way of teen activities or youth groups. They notice that the children's church isn't state of the art. They listen to the music and it really doesn't sound nearly as good as the music they usually listen to on their local radio station or Pandora. So they talk it over and decide that this church really doesn't meet their needs. They look elsewhere.

This isn't about encouraging people to go to smaller churches. I could actually reverse this and show how many people visit a large church and do the same thing. (It doesn't "feel" personal. Too many people. Too much going on for my taste, etc.) The point is simple. We choose a church because we view it as the center of our social life. I want you to re-read that sentence and think about it for a few minutes. I would argue that most Christians choose their church, continue to attend their church and expect their church to be the center of their social life. The local church has become the place where we make friends, where we swap recipes, where we get our babysitters, where we organize our play dates, where we share remodeling stories, where we get car problem advice. In other words the church is the place where we interact with people on a regular basis. In other words the church has become a Social Club.

Think about it. What is the true purpose of the church? The true purpose according to the Bible is to glorify God by evangelizing the lost and edifying (building up) the believer (cf 1 Cor 14, Eph 4). These are spiritual activities. Building up fellow Christians involves more than chatting about football. It means confessing our sin to one another and helping each other grow more and more like Christ. Yet, that is not how we view the church at all. When that couple searching for a church visited the small church was their decision based on the preaching? Was their decision based on how they could help serve others in that church and in the community? No, it was based entirely on Social Club criteria. Will the church keep my kids busy with activities and programs? Will the church keep me occupied with activities so I can build friendships in this church?

We have allowed the church to become the center of our social lives when it should be the center of our spiritual lives. Our social lives should be found in the world around us. Our play dates, our car problems, our babysitters, our remodeling advice can and should all come from unbelievers around us. I am not saying it is wrong for us to socialize with other believers, but I believe we have often limited our entire social life to those who attend our local church.

As church leaders, let us repent of throwing together activity after activity to keep our people so busy at the "church" they have no time to develop relationships with others. As individuals, let us repent of turning the church into a Social Club and start interacting with people all around us in our neighborhoods, work places, shopping malls, parks, and social clubs (the real ones).