A year and a half ago I wrote concerning some
very bad trends or tendencies that are common in churches. I am even more
convinced today than I was then that churches are spiritually handicapping
themselves because they have taken their eyes off of Christ, Who is head of His
church. The items I wrote about are not insignificant because they
hinder, to one degree or another, the church from doing its work and reflecting
the glory of Christ in this dark world. If the true identity of the
church is clouded or hidden altogether, then the church can easily morph into
something other than the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. In many,
many places that is exactly what has happened. Many churches are majoring
on minors and making minors into majors.
Allen Raynor Weblog: “Some Bad Tendencies Common to
Churches”
(June 30, 2016)
The church, in its purest sense, is the most wonderful entity or institution to
ever exist. The desire of the Lord Jesus is “That He might present her to
Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but
that she should be holy and without blemish.” (Eph. 5:27) The ideally
functioning body of Christ, spoken of in Acts 2:41-47, is something everyone
should long to be a part of. But we know there is no such thing as the
ideal church in the “here and now” because of us weak and frail, sinful,
selfish and self-absorbed human beings that compose the local church.
There seems to be a handful of tendencies or traps into which churches are
prone to fall. Each of these hurt the purpose and witness of the body of
Christ in the world. They may seem minor, but they are far more major
than we realize. The church is to reflect the light and glory of it’s
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but if it is not very careful, it takes on many
unfortunate characteristics of the dark world in which it exists.
Churches have the tendency to become a “museum of saints.” The “saved”
may be seen as, not unlike, a collection of “trophies” celebrating past
programs, initiatives, or the tenure/ministry of a former pastor. The
past may be elevated and glorified and there is little talk about the
future. Past pastors, past staff members, past programs, past Sunday
School attendance, past church attendance, past youth groups, past music
programs, past building programs, past church planting efforts, etc. I
once had a key leader, in the church in which I was serving at the time, brag
to me about how active the church had been in church planting. He said it
had started several mission churches. But, the most recent one had been
more than 75 years earlier! Churches with longer histories have greater
tendencies to become museums for saints where “the past” rules.
Churches have the tendency to become a “business.” There are easy-to-see
reasons for why this often happens. Without becoming “incorporated”
churches have been advised they are putting themselves at risk and most
churches have done so. However, the downside of this is that it causes
churches to claim a status that is actually “inconsistent” with its purpose for
existence. Compliance with certain laws tend to contribute to a
looming/hovering threat that the church might lose it’s “tax exempt”
status. It is often portrayed, and even feared as being a
worst-case-scenario perhaps even worse than disobedience to God! The body
of Christ (the church) above all else, is to be separate from the world.
It will never attract the world by being like the world. It will only
attract it by being different. In a multitude of ways, the typical 21st
-century church sadly functions far-too-much like a business. Issues
related to insurance, payroll, copy machine contracts, utilities, office supplies,
policies and procedures, profits and losses, contract negotiations, compliance
issues, and much more are consistent with the business world. But, as
much as possible those things have got to be seen as veritable tools to help
with the real purpose of the church and not ever become a “driving” or
“controlling” force. In this area, it is very easy to get the “horse” and
“cart” reversed and indeed many churches have done so.
Churches have the tendency to become “banks.” When people give their
tithes and offerings they are giving it out of obedience to God for the work of
ministry. Some are doing so quite sacrificially. Some churches
accumulate tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars, without
using it for the work of ministry. The idea of “hoarding” is far from the
minds of most churches, but it still happens. One church business meeting
I was a part of several years ago had a lengthy discussion of banks and
institutions and how the church could make the most interest off “their”
money. It does not seem this is what God intended to be done with tithes
and offerings, but it sounds a lot like the poor steward in Jesus’ parable of
the talents (Mat. 25:14-30). There are two types of investment – one is
in the world and the other is in kingdom work. The point Jesus stressed
was the importance of investing “talents” in kingdom work, not burying it in
the ground or in a bank account. What often happens is that churches see
assets like property, buildings, bonds, CD’s, savings, large checking accounts,
designated funds, etc. as “security.” But it gives a “false” sense of
security at best. At worst it facilitates disobedience. Churches
are to be “channels” whereby all money given is used for the work of ministry.
Churches have the tendency to become social clubs or country clubs. It is
what Thom Rainer terms “churchianity” as opposed to “Christianity” in his book I
Will: 9 Traits of the Outwardly Focused Christian. Practicing
“churchianity” is when I make it all about me – my likes and dislikes, my taste
in music, my desired temperature for the building, my color for the new carpet,
my method for doing youth ministry, my way to do Sunday School or small groups,
my way to run the kitchen, my way to do children’s ministry, my style of
preaching, my, my, my . . . Whether knowingly or unknowingly, many simply
expect comfort and satisfaction with their church and if they are not receiving
it, they will either stop coming or, take their “business” elsewhere to another
church until they find what they are looking for and that which brings them the
comfort and satisfaction they desire. This is NOT Christianity, but
rather “churchianity. The church is the place where we, as the body,
unite for worship and to sharpen our spiritual axes and then head back out to
the work of ministry! In the early twentieth-century, evangelist Billy
Sunday famously said “The church is not a dormitory for sleepers, it is an
institution for workers; it is not a rest camp, it is a front line trench.”
Sadly, local bodies have many members practicing “churchianity” and not
“Christianity;” therefore, many churches much more closely resemble social
clubs or country clubs than New Testament churches.
There are plenty of other tendencies that harm the church, but these are but a
few I have observed in my years of service as a pastor. The best, and
perhaps only way, to put these problems/tendencies to bed is to get back to
God’s revealed Word. The Latin expression “Ad Fontes” which means “Back
to the sources” was the battle cry of The Renaissance period where there was a
sharply renewed interest in the first principles and sources of truth and
knowledge. There was widespread belief that they had drifted away from
their solid, and former, foundation. What we need in the church of the
21st Century is a “Renaissance” by getting back to the source – the Bible
- and see how we can be a better, more “New Testament” grounded, church.
In Christ,
Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor
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