Peering Into the Church

So, in my post prior to Thanksgiving I mentioned that I had more thoughts on the subject of how our modern American church has been trending toward "Seeker Sensitivity." How it has been trying to devise a message that is founded, to a point, in the scriptures, but one that ultimately will ruffle few enough feathers as to attract people into its buildings. And I questioned whether that's really how Christ would have us deliver His message.

In this post, I had intended to expand on that thinking by giving you some exerpts from an article written by one of my favorite authors. Ted Dekker grew up as a child of missionaries in the jungles of Indonesia. He saw first hand the devotion, passion, commitment and courage of those trying to take God's world to a people who ultimately would be sentenced to an eternity apart from God without it. He recently wrote an article titled "Peering Into the American Church" in which he chronicles what he observed in the church upon his return to America as a young adult. My intention was to provide some passages of that article interspersed with some of my own thoughts. But as I re-read the article this morning trying to figure out what I would use and I what I wouldn't, I realized that he just says it so much better than I can. So, basically I'm going to just shut up now and let you read his article in it's entirety.


PEERING INTO THE AMERICAN CHURCH

People often ask me what I've seen while floating around outside the bubbles. Many things, some mundane, some interesting, - but nothing as wildly intriguing as the swirling eddies in the bubble called the Church.

My first view of the American Church was from what I'd always though of as the Stone Age, far, far away. My parents and their colleagues planted over seventy churches in one decade, and I witnessed an entire people group transformed from the inside out. I watched men and women from America risk their lives, and I saw them take arrows and die rather than abandon hope. I learned that missionaries - although fully human and as desperate for the mercy of God as their audiences - are extraordinary people. It takes a woman truly abandoned to the love of Christ, like my mother, to forsake a warm house in Glasgow, Montana, for a dingy hut in the jungles. Except for the grace of God, I think she would have gone mad a dozen times for the suffering she endured. I peered into this bubble and I saw a thing of beauty, tinged red with the blood of martyrs and gold with their crowns. I walked through the jungle, crying, desperate to be held in the arms of such a loving, passionate God.

Then I came to America and peered into virtually the same church, but now on this side of the ocean. Once again I saw love and passion, now with another element. Music! My, my such sweet music! Choirs and orchestras and singers worshipping in a way I could hardly fathom. And this Church had buildings overflowing with brightly dressed worshippers.

But as I peered into the American Church Bubble, I began to sense an absence - the absence of passion for remembering Christ's death. Didn't he urge his followers to take up the cross? Christianity is infused with a fundamental dependence on death in order to find life, yet we speak to little of it. Jesus Christ is most readily identified by a symbol of execution, the cross, and Christians are symbolically drowned in baptism, another kind of death, yet rarely is either mentioned. Perhaps knowing that man's tendency would be to shy away from the details of his death, Christ insisted that his followers do something so seemingly uncouth as drink a symbol of his blood in remembrance of his crucifixion.

I had to ask myself, why do those in this bubble fear death so much? Maybe its because they are so enthralled by all the music and the beautiful buildings and the brightly colored clothing. Maybe they are so thrilled to have escaped the fires of hell, that they can't stop dancing long enough to remember how they escaped.

But this explanation seemed to pat, so I peered longer and harder. It was there, in the corners of the church buildings and under the rugs that I began to see something else.

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE CHURCH

Could it be that the people packing the parking lots on Sundays are going because of the music and the beautiful buildings and the brightly colored clothing, rather than to meet God? Do they even see the difference?

There is a vast difference. Are the people coming for God's benefit, or are they coming for their own benefit? Both, probably, but which takes preference? What consumes the mind of the congregation, the glory of God or the needs of the people?Surprisingly, most Americans struggle with understanding the distinction, and this ignorance is at the root of a problem we face in the church. If a churches' preoccupation is really with God, talk of His love and the price Christ paid would rule the day. His teachings would take center state. What He hears would be more important than what the visitors hear. The chief end of man is to glorify God, not man.

Why then do we favor teaching that gives us tools to live happier lives over teaching that brings our minds back to God? Why are we so consumed with our own needs over the desires of our Creator? A message on how to live a splendid life by following the five principals of John Doe will win a far heartier round of applause than picking through Christ's Sermon on the Mount any Sunday. Do most prefer the wit of an orator over the parables of Jesus?

There can be only one answer: We humans are preoccupied with ourselves. Maybe in our minds it's really not about God, at all. It's all about the Church. About us. The American is often saved into the church solely for his or her own benefit, and they attend church services for the same benefits. Worship is a way to say thank you, but in the end, it's all about what works for man.

COMPROMISING MESSAGE FOR THE SAKE OF MISSION

And I saw something else: Some churches were changing the message of Christ for the sake of their mission. To attract more people with brightly colored clothing into their big, beautiful buildings, leaders began whitewashing Christ's message by omitting portions from regular teachings. Where Jesus said that the road to his kingdom is narrow, the church called it wide. Success was defined by the number of people who attended the services, and what better way to flood the gates than widen the road? Strategy was developed, and the mission was to attract as many as possible. After all, isn't the great commission of Christ to take his Good News to the whole world?

Yes, but how can someone take part of Christ's message, and ignore the rest? It's all about God, God, God, but the American church began to focus on what attracted people, people, people. And apparently only part of Christ's teaching is immediately attractive to people.

We live in an age consumed with the feel-good doctrines of tolerance. The liberating teaching of Christ is no longer in vogue. Many of his teachings are called egotistical. They say that his assertion that he is the only way borders on hate speech. Even in the church seeker sensitivity has muted the fundamental teachings of Christ, simply because they don't play well to a politically correct crowd.

IN THE END

So these are my observations, as I sit here, peering in while I wait for this life to end and the next to begin. For now I'm still on the bubble, observing and writing, wondering if anyone cares. They are only words, after all, and they are only mine.

TED DEKKER

So, what do you think? I still have a few more thoughts, but those will come next time. For now, I want to know what you think. Leave you comments and let's have some discussion.