This is a continuation of my critique of the church in America. When I use the term "Christless" Church I am not referring to any particular congregation, but more to a mindset in general that I believe is prevalent in American Churchdom.
So, what is the "Christless" Church? I believe that this question can be answered by applying a test to our congregation or assembly. The question is this, "If Christ (or the Holy Spirit) were to be removed from our churches what difference would it make?" We have created so many programs and ministries that keep God's people running around busy and feeling like they are serving, but what do they have to do with Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit? How many people in our churches would still have their Sunday School classes, Vacation Bible School's, AWANA programs, basketball camps, ladies fellowships, etc. and never even notice that Christ wasn't really part of the picture?
Just look at the "tried and proven" method of creating a large church. Usually we get a team together of successful businessmen and businesswomen, effective entrepreneurs, shrewd retirees, and idealistic students to combine forces with a dynamic pastor and create a "successful" church. We need a few key elements to make this church a success. First we need a great performance. This requires a charismatic communicator as the teaching pastor. Even if we have to put him on a television screen this is an absolute must. Next we need an accomplished musician to lead the worship team with a strong band. Third, we need a place to hold the crowds that will come. Everything better be top notch, excellent and attractive. After all that is what we expect and deserve, isn't it? Fourth, once the crowds get there we have programst to keep them interested. So we start first-class, well-done programs for kids, teens, families, every age and every stage must be accomodated. We need professionals to run them. That way parents can drop off their kids and not have to worry about them. We should post a sign at the door that says, "Don't try this at home."
You may not like this picture, but isn't this what we honestly believe is a "successful" church? But notice what is missing? None of this - the dynamic speaking, the first-class programs, the great facilities - requires Jesus Christ. How many churches could continue running their programs, smoothly and effectively, drawing crowds each Sunday even if the Holy Spirit were virtually absent? That is my question for the church in America.
What if we didn't have any of these things? What if we just had the Bible? What if we said that we would meet at 8am (normal work hours during the week) on Sunday and open our Bibles and start teaching and discussing the Bible. Maybe we would go until lunch or maybe we would go all day. We would take time for questions and we would do our best to answer them. There would be no music, no piano, no band, no announcements, no programs, nothing but God's Word. Would we come? Would we be interested? I wonder.
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7 comments:
A consequence of all these programs is that parents then feel that they are no longer responsible for teaching their children about Jesus. That's what Sunday School and Awana and VBS are for. The youth pastor can straighten out my teen. (Wish he would!) And we don't need to disciple new believers, just get them to church every time the door is open.
Well, I would be interested in the Scripture emphasis, and I would surely come at 8. But I would probably also be looking for an assembly of believers that honored the longest book of the Bible by singing praises to God. I wouldn't need "special" music or a piano even, but I would be looking to be taught and admonished through the songs of others and encouraged to be thankful to God.
Then, I would wonder about what to do with my children. My 18 mo. old can be quite a distraction, to me, those sitting near me, and to the preacher. My 3 yr. old has the ability to learn Bible truth, but not at any level that is going to be profitable to adults. My 6 yr. old would do much better, but I wonder how much he would understand and retain. I also wonder what impressions he would be getting about "church." True, it's really my job to teach them, so I suppose I could just leave them at home with a babysitter. Another thing is that though my children are relatively well-behaved, sitting still for hours would be quite the stretch and probably could lead to their becoming exasperated.
One other thing would have to do with outreach and ministry. That's what believers are called to do, but will it be organized? At a specific time? A place? What will we do? We could all go our separate ways, but that kind of defeats the idea of a "body."
Pierre, I agree with what I think you're thinking. But I've started wondering if many of the things we can dislike about the "institutional church" have arisen out of natural necessity and a desire to magnify Christ well. Perhaps they have become ends unto themselves, and that is wrong. But I'm having trouble imagining a biblical church that fulfills its commission well without addressing corporate worship, ministry to children, mutual discipleship, and outreach.
I would be interested to read any suggestions you may have because I like your ideals.
Well said, Aaron. We have a tendency to toss the baby along with the bath water around this blog.
If Christ (or the Holy Spirit) ARE in these things then they're completely acceptable. If not, I suspect no amount of programs and outreaches will be enough.
Yes, I agree the programs are good if they are done with the right focus. (I need to stop posting and running. Will try to be better about that.) It's when the motivation becomes about growing the church or offering entertainment that Christ is lost.
For example, I noticed a classified ad in the paper the other day looking for a pianist for a church - no religion necessary. A paid position. I take issue with this. Shouldn't playing music in the church be an opportunity to serve and worship God? How can you do that if you don't know Him? And being paid kind of takes away from that serving heart, I think. (Not talking about a full-time position, mind you, just a Sunday morning gig. I certainly think full-time ministers should be paid.)
Hey Aaron,
I thought about this after I had already posted. Obviously there is nothing wrong with "programs" per se. The heading was "Christless" church. So the idea I was trying to get across was that we too often get caught up in activities, serving, ministry, programs, etc. and although they can be Christ-honoring and based on the Scriptures I believe that too often they are merely just "things we do as Christians." I don't disagree that we can be organized as a body to serve others together. Obviously ministries like a nursery and children's church can be a great benefit for the parents to learn undistracted and for the children to be taught on their level. I am not arguing against any of that.
What I am saying is that I think we have overdone the organizing part. You mentioned the idea of us going out from the gathering individually. Isn't that what we saw in the early church? The only organization I see in the early church outside of teaching, singing, and praying is to help other believers in a material sense (Acts 6, Stephen and other seven, also selling of land in Acts 2).
There were no "visitations" - every one shared the Gospel with their friends, family and neighbors. There were no "fellowships" - people simply gathered in houses on their own with other Christians. There were no "children's outreach programs" - people taught their own children and reached other families on their own. Although we are the "body" of Christ I don't see anything in Scripture that would mean we should be doing everything together. From what I can tell the new beleivers in the early church would have had primarily unsaved friends and would have reached them without programs. I think we have lost that personal responsibility because we can sit back and say "Well the church has a VBS, a visitation program, an evangelistic service, a children's church, etc. and I can just plug into one of those rather than taking any personal responsibility for my own neighbors, family and friends. Anyone, those are my thoughts.
I meant "anyway, those are my thoughts." :)
Pierre, I like your point about "Christless" church, and your comment about the substitution of organized machinery for personal responsibility. I think that this issue relates to the clergy-laity bifurcation in the church: too many of us leave the "ministry" to the professionals. Until we understand our own role as members of the body (that is, us "layman"), the church must depend on organization to address its mission. Not to say that organization is unnecessary or bad, but there is no need to institute a program or earn church sponsorship for individuals to address a need they see. Anyway, I hope that our generation (by God's grace and direction)really can address the need of the church to align itself with a biblical model of ministry that is more based in personal involvement rather than church-organized programs.
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