The Casual Christian

A good friend recently confided to me that he no longer goes to church because not a single one of his Christian neighbors offered help when his house burned down. He finally knocked on a neighbor’s door and asked to borrow their phone (this was before cell phones). They were having dinner at the time. Although they let him use their phone, they did not allow his wife or kids into their home. His family was hungry, tired, dirty, and smelled of soot and sweat. Their neighbors no doubt found them a somewhat distasteful interruption to their otherwise pleasant meal. Unlike the Good Samaritan, they were unwilling to stop what they were doing and lend a hand. I am sure these same neighbors found no contradiction between their reticence to help a neighbor and their involvement in their favorite church program.

It seems the propensity of the church to organize ministry into programs has deprived some Christians of the impetus to show love spontaneously as needs arise.  Jesus condemned the Jewish relgious leaders for excusing people from caring for for their elderly parents if they gave the money to the church instead. We do the same thing today by classifying church-sponsored programs as ministry while excluding the 'one anothers' of the Bible - money and time spent ministering to one another on an individual basis as needs arise apart from official church sponsorship.

Much of the gospels are dedicated to recounting the ministry of Christ to individuals. There were those times He addressed large groups or took the disciples aside to teach them, but significant portions of Scripture deal with individual encounters. Jesus addressed people’s needs in ways that were personally meaningful to them. It is this personal element that is missing from the modern church program. A rapidly growing church cannot support the kind of personal ministry Jesus engaged in without a high degree of delegation.

We can see how far the church has come from its original mandate by taking a look at some of the frivolous things that pass for ministry today. America is a land obsessed with sports and the single largest annual sporting event is the National Football League’s Super Bowl. On Super Bowl Sunday Americans open their homes for big parties. Everybody brings a dish and someone prepares a lottery. It is a time of boisterous camaraderie and over-indulgence. Some churches have seen this as an opportunity to round up a bunch of neighbors and show a taped testimony of some well-known Christian football player. Many of the guests have never been in the host’s home before and probably never will again. If done in the context of an ongoing witness, this might have some effect. In the typical “one and done” approach of modern evangelism, it bears little fruit.

Another popular “ministry” is the junior high lock-in where the kids stay in the church all night over New Year’s and play games in the gym. One of the youth pastors then gives some kind of devotional. This program is representative of many youth ministries in our churches. They seek to promote Christian character through Bible Study and a good time. Unfortunately, the message that is caught—church should be fun—has more impact than the one that is taught. Inevitably what happens is that kids form cliques and some get left out. These programs often end up undermining the very fellowship that they are supposed to foster.

Although parking lot attendants and ushers are considered a necessary part of conducting a worship service, parking cars and handing out bulletins should never be conferred the same ministry status as personal witness and acts of mercy. Raising these acts of service to the level of spiritual ministry encourages folks to think that they have discharged their responsibility for advancing the kingdom of Christ by simply parking a car. Stephen was selected by the Apostles to help with distribution of food to the widows, but he was also a powerful evangelist who was eventually stoned for his witness for Christ. The Christian who does not lead others to Christ will eventually become unproductive in his or her spiritual life.

There are Christian programs for just about every type of affinity or age group. Some address real needs and others seem totally frivolous. The point is that the focus should always be on building up the body of Christ and promoting the growth of His kingdom. Ministries should be directed at felt needs that lead to an exploration of deeper spiritual needs. Having fun in a Christian context might have some legitimacy if it develops into an expression of authentic caring relationships.  On the other hand, if the guys just show up for basketball on Wednesday nights without including others from outside the church community and sharing their faith, the result is not a ministry but just another recreation program. People should be encouraged to use their spiritual gifts in legitimate fashion, not for entertainment or frivolous 'ministries.'

Transparentchurch.org

The Transparent Church is a website that deals primarily with issues of church accountability. They talk about the tendency of churches to lose their focus as ministries grow. In their words, “The bureaucracy …takes on a life of its own and the focus changes from serving people to maintaining the bureaucracy. Churches and ministries that deviate from or expand their core mission always shift from a “people” focus to an “enterprise” focus. Institution takes precedence over individual. This is why leaders feel justified in protecting and preserving the organization even when it means doing harm to innocent people, like the Christian organiztions that close ranks around a pedophile or the pastor who wouldn’t help members network for employment because a bad match might reflect poorly on the church.

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The Casual Christian pp. 71-72