that all important "membership"

Church

What does it mean to “attend a church”? Be a “member”? When you have the privilege like I do to ask people about their faith history it leads to some interesting data. I have learned that just because a person belongs to a Christian church doesn’t always mean they know what it means to be a Christian. If some one told you they were Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic, Brethren, Methodist or Presbyterian et cetera, wouldn’t you assume they meant they were telling you they were a Christian? I can tell you from my experiences that it is not always the case!

I get some pretty amusing comments sometimes. Here are some statements all made by people who identified themselves as being “members” of a church.

“All that preacher wanted to do was talk about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! I got tired of it!”
(As Tim the Tool Man Taylor used to say, “Eeehhh?”)

“I believe there is a God and I hope I’ve been good enough to go to heaven someday.”
(And that would be a Christian belief because. . . . ?)

And here is one I got today. In responding to a question, “what brings peace into your life?” the individual gave a good 20 seconds of deafening silent thought and then said to me, “I don’t know! What gives you peace?” Bravo! First person to throw the question back at me! (Yes I was ready and I had an answer.), but sadly, “the Christian” didn’t know what could give them peace in their life! Are you picking up what I’m laying down?

What is “the church” doing these days or more specifically in the last 100+ years or so to instruct its inhabitants on the basics of Christianity? How can people be “members” of a church for decades and at the end of their life only have a shaky fear-filled “hope so” about whether there is a God, what Jesus was able to accomplish, or if there is a heaven and whether they can purchase a ticket to get in?

In the Book of James there is a verse that says “you do not have because you do not ask.” I’m thinking a lot of folks “have no hope because they do not know!” The church of the Kingdom of God/Heaven is responsible for conveying the gospel: the life transforming facts about the atoning redemptive work of Christ on our behalf.

Yet as Mike Erre frames it in his book, Death by Church, we all to often see, not the church of the Kingdom of Heaven, but the kingdom of the church: a cultural saturated entity existing for its own glory and purpose. A place where members receive benefits and are served. A place where commitment and accountability are marginally optional. A place where discipleship is for those “fanatics.” A place where discipline never takes place so as not to offend anyone. A place where the unspoken norm is that it’s okay to be silent about out faith because everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and besides there are other pathways to God we must tolerate. A place where attendees are not worshipers but rather an audience for a performance (and a critical audience at that.

The long term affect: no hope, no faith, no ability to explain what they thought they believed but were never challenged to think it through, verbalize it, and explain it to someone else.

I was once told that in the military, a helicopter pilot can not enter actual flight training until he has the entire section from the operations manual memorized by heart for emergency landing procedure due to mechanical failure and can recite it out loud. Why? So that at the moment of crisis there is no lack of knowledge or faith. I get to see the “Christians’ who never learned what they had (or didn’t have) the opportunity to believe. As they approach death, they are panicked like an untrained pilot who is about to crash land. There is often fear, doubt, depression, anger, or hopelessness needlessly built into these people’s lives.

Is it too much to ask that everyone who calls him or herself a Christian to be instructed in such a way that they can comfortably verbalize the principles of their faith so that they can pass along a believable story about the gospel of Jesus Christ? Is that too much to ask about someone who is trusting their future to this “Jesus” fella?

What is “the church” if it cannot turn out a believer who can explain the biblical truth about what they are living for and dying to become?

1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have…

Hmmm . . . so maybe it’s a heart issue as well?