Monday, August 9, 2010

'Traditional' Church? Pt. 1: Cynical

Most of us grew up in it. Walking in on a Sunday morning seeing people just like you with years of deep-seated problems repressed behind a composure of faux joy and the illusion everything is all right. Casual conversation flows carefully, not wanting to get tied up in the mire of someone’s ‘sins’. Glancing cleanly off the surface people greet each other and find their sets, the children are in their place, the teens in theirs, and now you, the adult, sit in yours.
As you sit through the service the preacher gives some helpful hints on the meaning of a word, six points on whatever he’s talking about, and you sing a myriad of new, old, odd songs. Whether the music feels soft and mellow, or you walk out thinking it was a concert doesn’t matter they do it all the same.
It’s an old theory, divide and conquer, working well on playgrounds, in police interrogation rooms, at dinner, and war. Splitting the enemy into manageable portions and reigning victorious over each. So the church has taken the family and catered to each level’s individual needs. The Children get something that stimulates them to learn about the Bible in Sunday school, VBS and other activities. The youth receive pizza and a man whose been trained specifically to help them learn about God, through weekly studies, camps, and retreats. The adults sit with coffee in hand listening to a man talk, to learn more about life while attending Adult Fellowships, prayer meetings, and other weekly events. All of this is designed to create good converts, people who know the Bible, God, and life well so as to live God-centered, Bible-based lives. Right?
Wrong. This system of church that we call ‘traditional’ is killing the Christian faith. The church has become, over time, more harmful to one’s faith than helpful. Whether you go to the flashy-concert-mega-church with some sort of teaching, or the small fledgling church with solid teaching, it doesn’t matter. The system, the way they do ‘church’, if it is traditional, is dangerous and ought to be killed. In those cases church has become a pitiful country club.
By now the majority of readers will say, ‘O were you burned by the church?’ trying to explain away my cynicism through psychology. No, the church, to answer the question, did not burn me; I’ve simply grown weary of the same statistics being true and the ‘church’ not acting like the Church in any manner whatsoever. So in these posts entitled “’Traditional’ Church?” I will chronicle the reasons for my cynicism and, by God’s grace, offer what seems to be the logical solution.

5 comments:

SethC said...

Augustine said that "The church is a whore, but she is my mother." For better or worse we're all part of the church (if we follow Jesus). However, I agree that many traditional churches have missed the mark and are possibly doing more harm than good, I think we need to just do our best to do what we know is best. I appreciate that you attack the style of the traditional church without attacking the church itself. Thanks for the great post, Sam.

Mike Roy said...

The church can be like Noah's Ark--If it weren't for the storm without, we could not stand the smell within.

Anonymous said...

Amen. Followers of Christ must understand that we, as followers of Christ, are the church. Sunday morning service is not church, the building you drive to for service is not church, WE are the church. Sunday mornings ought to be an equipping time where the body comes together to get revelation and to commune corporately with the fellow parts of the body.

All believers have spiritual gifts to walk in and are called to be the church to the lost. Whether it be prophesy, serving, giving, teaching, leadership, encouragement, or mercy. When you walk in your gifting you are being the church to those you are blessing.

I am so fortunate to attend a ministry that has this down. They know that Sunday mornings are a time to equip, help people find their "call" to the ministry, and sending them out. It is not about raising funds to build buildings and to spread the fame of the congregation.

Back to my point on the giftings, it is imperitive for ministries to understand this. Most, develop committees or positions and then pick a people to fill that committee. That is so backwards and us the cause for so many people being "burnt out" on church. People ought to find their giftings and then have committees (or ministries is really a better word, "committee" makes me shiver) be birthed out of that. This leads to fruitful and happy Christians.

Anyway, that was longer than I planned.

Random thoughts brought to you by;
Brent B.

Mike Roy said...

Very good words about a toxic system that has emerged in the church. After you and I do something more than once, we will have ourselves a tradition. Someone once said tradition is the living faith of the dead. And traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. I was steeped in the cynicism of which you speak for the reasons you describe and others. Thankfully, I came to see by God's grace that He does preserve a remnant.

Anonymous said...

When we (the church) do not learn from our history we are doomed to repeat it and repeat it and repeat it... and no one asks why we just keep on doing it... we even look at it and say "hey this is'nt working," but we repeat it. We set ourselves (pastors)up as the focal point on Sunday morning and place our congregations in a passive role for the service and then expect them to play an active role in the week in their daily lives.