Stop Playing Church
In my new soon to be released book GO! , I attempt to explain the state of the union of today’s church, it’s rapidly shrinking relevance, and what to do about it.
As someone that has been a follower of Jesus for over 20 years (albeit far from perfectly), I get so frustrated with the way we are supposed to live this Christian life is presented. After attempting to get inside the box myself the whole thing felt so unnatural and was largely ineffective at leading anyone to Him or producing any noticeable change in the lives of those around me. So after failing miserably I had to go back to the drawing board and see if I could find something that worked for me. When I study the scriptures I see a very different Christianity than the one I see being modeled by most churches today. It wasn’t a group of people isolated from the world cocooned in safety and security surrounded only by others that thought like them.
The Book of Acts tells the story of a small group of men and women who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, changed the world. They were ordinary, no different than you or me but they accomplished some pretty extraordinary things. They created a movement that continues to this day and was even accused of having turned the whole world upside down.
So how was it possible for poor, blue-collar, lower-class workers to do this within just a few short years of Jesus' death and resurrection?
Let’s take a look at the scripture for evidence. Acts 2:42 writes, “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” And what was the result? “The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved?” Did you catch that? "Daily! That means at minimum churches should be growing by at least 365 people every year if we were having similar results. Unfortunately the majority of churches see less than 10 commitments to Christ a year! Something has gone terribly wrong here.
Today we have all of our elaborate programs and fancy PowerPoint presentations and we aren't even close to as effective at reaching the lost as these uneducated, cussing, dirty fishermen were in the first century. Why?
I believe part of the problem here is because the church today does a good job of teaching and prayer, but drops the ball in the other areas. Even when we do fellowship our events are so churchy that no one that's outside the church even attends. Then we scratch our heads and wonder why church growth is stagnant.
“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Luke 12:1”
Isn’t this exactly what we do? We hide out in church surrounded by people that believe what we do, using our Christianese language to communicate with each other. Apathetic and lazy coasting in our faith, never venturing out into the world, more concerned with safety and comfort than we are at being effective. Rather than getting in the trenches and taking a risk to build relationships with a lost and hurting world, we fill our evenings with Bible studies and Christian friends, isolating ourselves from the very people we are called to be salt and light to. How can people see the light if it is never taken into dark places?
Now I know there is something to be said for shepherding the flock, but I believe it was Jesus that said God would leave the 99 to go after the one. As a whole, the church is not doing that anymore.
“The mission ofd the church is not to get the people of the world to the church.
The mission of the church is to get people to BE the church in the world. ”
It’s time to stop playing church.
This is NOT how the Master told us to do any of this.
Jesus tells us to “Go! I am sending you out as sheep among wolves.” Doesn’t sound all that safe or comfortable to me. No, living on mission is a dangerous business. Too many people in the church today want to play it safe. So instead we say ‘come’, and people just aren't doing it anymore. Inviting people to you is far easier than going to them, isn't it? As Christians, we don't want to get out of our comfort zone. We don't want to go into environments where sinners are, the sin might infect us we think. Or at least that's what we tell ourselves so that we are off the hook. Plus why give up home-field advantage?
Inviting people to a building where all the responsibility of any real-life change falls on the pastor is far easier than being the hands and feet of Jesus and God forbid actually have to go out of our way and discomfort ourselves for someone that might need our help.
We must wake up from our deadly state of complacency and stop talking about the Master’s business and start being about it. Jesus loved being around sinners, and sinners loved being around Jesus. It doesn’t surprise me that it wasn’t religious people that He hung out with.
Let me ask you an honest question when was the last time you had a new person come to church with you? If we will be known by our fruit I think it’s a legitimate question. If you can’t remember the last time you might need to rethink how you are going about all of this and get out of your bubble. Go to places that are uncomfortable for the sake of the people there.
We have to stop playing church and start thinking outside the box.
Over the next couple months, I’ll be writing a series of blogs sharing my experiences and observations along with excerpts from GO! in hopes of waking the church up to the reality she is in and sharing a more effective method of reaching people far from God that are more desperate for Him than ever.
Reserve your pre-sale copy now. If you would like more information about being a GO! Church, Please send us a message and someone will get right back with you. Stay tuned.
And join the Waiting Works and CityFam Community on Facebook to get the online support from others on this journey.
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