(this is the 5th and final post in my systematic living series)

Fit into the system or get out!

Fit into the system or get out!

If you were privy to this URL before my recent 2-year blog shutdown you probably already know everything I’m going to say in the following paragraphs.  For years I ranted about the state of Christianity in the western world (particularly the American brand) and how off-track it has seemed.  Since then I’ve read many books, attended a few different churches for months at a time, and tried to find out why I was wrong.  Afterall, EVERYONE was telling me I was wrong.  I sought earnestly after justification of what seemed so wrong to me.  I tried to fit into a church and be a “good Christian”.  I even thought about joining a small group (if you’re outside the faith, think of these as manufactured friendships that you’re required to have ;)).  But ya know what I found on that journey?  Ya know what I realized after many years of honestly and earnestly seeking a proper view of church?

I was right all along.  The modern church is jacked up and has virtually nothing to do with The Bible or Jesus Christ.

It’s funny because the above statement will evoke two opposite responses depending on who you are.  If you’re a Christian who attends church weekly, is part of a small group, gets your paycheck from a congregation, or otherwise accepts the modern church as “the will of God”, you’ll write me off as another angry person who was somehow hurt by the church and now has an agenda against it.  If you’re a non-Christian, someone who has been turned off to faith because of the church you’re reaction will be quite different.  It’ll be more along the lines of: Yeah.  I already knew that.

So, what’s wrong with the church?  Why do I have such strong statements about it?  As I said, I’ve gone over this a million times and don’t really have the energy to say it again.  So, here’s just a few bullet points of the issues as I see them.

  • Above all the church, and by extension the brand of Christianity we profess, is systematic. “To be a good Christian you do this, don’t do that…you live like this, you give your money here, you pray like this, you study the Bible this often….blah blah blah”.  It’s all crap.  Jesus came to destroy the systematic living of the Old Testament and we’ve done nothing but reestablish it.
  • The church is no longer a group of believers. It’s a 501c3 non-profit business style entity.  It has policies, procedures, paychecks, mortgages, janitors, and boards.  It spends more time managing all this worthless junk than it does living the life Jesus calls us to.  It’s a waste of time, money, and in the end because of an incorrect focus, it’s giving many people a wrong impression of the faith and what it means to be The Church.
  • The church is disconnected radically from everyday life. When you walk into a church you’re supposed to dress differently, act differently, talk differently, pray differently, and sing differently.  If you swear outside the church, you better not do it inside.  If you have a naturally loud voice, you better not even TALK inside the church…or else.  Again, Jesus came to abolish all this disconnection and false piety.  It’s the stuff of the Pharisees.
  • Churches now fall into 2 categories:  Old & dead or Entertainment. Neither has anything to do with Christ.  Both bore me or make me angry because they’re leading people astray.

Let me clarify that I’m not talking, here, about little things that need to change about the church.  I’m suggesting that our entire concept of “church” is wrong. We would need to tear down our buildings, dismatle the staff and boards, and start anew if we were to get closer to what I believe God intends for us to be.  Too many times when I talk about the church being off track the answer I hear is “Well…OUR church isn’t off track”.  If your church has a building, a full time staff, ‘ministries’, or a board…then yes it is (according to my defintion).  So, a change in worship style, getting younger leaders, or becoming a more ‘organic’ church with new branding doesn’t fix anything I’m talking about…just in case you’re missing my point.  Let me also say that I want the church to be healthy and everything God wants.  I don’t want to see the church go away…I want it to be the church of the Bible..healthy and pleasing to God. (and if you’re thinking I’m talking about the house-church movement or ‘Acts churches’, again, you’re missing the point)

Once in a while God steps in and gives me a little nudge in a direction I need.  He did this yesterday and it was some much needed encouragement to say with boldness everything that you’ve read above.  He put a book into my hands called Pagan Christianity which exposes much of what I say above, but on a much more studied and in depth scale.  It was the encouragement I needed to move ahead bravely with the belief that the Christian faith as become systematic and disconnecting from this system is ok (or possibly even something God wants).  I’m not talking about disbelieving the Bible or ceasing my relationship with Jesus. These have nothing to do with the systematic problem.  I’m a believer in Christ and, as long as He continues to help me believe, I always will be.  The church, and the mess that it is, will never change that.  But there is a point where I no longer am willing to be a part of the system as an active supporter of this mess.

However, here’s the caveat to disconnecting from the church:  If you do that, you must continue to meet and study and pray with fellow believers, and this I am doing.  I’m not saying it’s ok to make your faith “a personal journey” and still be a follower of Jesus.  That flies in the face of everything the Bible teaches.  What I’m saying is that you can have real relationship, real study, real Christian life outside of this systematic church. It’s harder, but it’s also the real thing.  It’s not a systematic solution, it’s an organic one and it’s the one Christ intends for us.

So, while I’ll probably continue to attend a systematic church (if I’m honest, it’s more for my daughter than for me or my wife) I won’t put much stock in it.  I won’t support the system in any way.  I won’t be bullied or insulted into being a part of something that Jesus neither envisioned or (in my opinion) entirely approves of.  But I will continue to be a person who follows Christ the best I know how.  Nothing a systematic Church can say or do will stop this real relationship from growing until the day I go “home”:  A place without system and a place of pure relationship.