The Vending Church

After a three-ish year intermission, my husband and I have decided to head back to church. And, while you may not agree with our decision to forego church services, it has afforded us the opportunity to discuss what we believe and what kind of Christians we want to be (as individuals and as a married couple). Looking at the church from the outside while still maintaining our faith (as opposed to being a non-believer outside of the church) has given us a perspective that I believe we are now ready to share.

• Other Christians want you to serve God the same way they serve God
  When our dear fellow Christians found out that we had decided not to attend church, we received various responses: all of them negative and most of them condemning our decision. We have friends who don’t visit us because they believe we are “living a life of sin” by not going to church. One person even suggested that our salvation would be affected by not “meeting with others to fellowship.” Rewind, we understand that fellowship is important and we still meet with Christians on a regular basis: just not at church.

  Even a handful of times, people tried to convince us that their church was worth going to and we should just “give it a try…” While we never said anyone’s church was less superior to another people seemed to think that we were making such a statement.

  Only a few respected our choice: these are the ones tend to be those we commune with regularly.

• Christians assume that if you’re not going to church, you’re “not being fed”
  Let’s pull out all the stops right now: false! I get way more out of talking with friends, defending my faith at work, or talking through Biblical theologies with my husband. We have in-depth discussions about faith: what certain scriptures mean and how we can incorporate certain Biblical standards into our life today within our current societal structure.
• Churches want your money
  This is a very unpopular belief and I know people will be offended: tithing is not a New Testament principle. As a minister, I understand that money is a necessary part of church, but I despise it. I don’t like the political church structure; I don’t like where the money goes; I don’t like that pastors tell the poorest people in their congregations that God commands them to give 10% of what they have to the church so that the pastor can buy an extra Starbucks or an extravagant house.

  There are a lot of Old Testament principles that we have dropped because we are under a new covenant, why has no one questioned why we kept this one about money?

• Church worship services have become very “Me-Centric”
  One thing I have noticed in our return to church culture is that people (in and out of church) seem to be obsessed with themselves. Now, this may not be a fair assessment of every church.

  There are three types of “worship” music:
  (1)Worship – an expression of adoration for who God is
  (2) Praise – an expression of gratitude/thankfulness for what God has done
  (3) Prayer – a request made for what God can do or what God can give

  All these types of songs are Biblical and should be expressed. However, I have noticed a trend toward prayer songs: “God, touch this place”, “father, send your healing”, “Jesus, let us know that you are near”.

  I am extremely cautious of what I say to God, and thus, have noticed less churches worshipping God because he is God but asking Him to do something for them. I believe it stems from the church telling every person that they must have a personal relationship with Jesus and therefore they personalize their worship services so you get something out of it.

  This brings me to my last point;

• We treat God as a vending machine
  Someone once told me that if they didn’t feel anything at church that they wouldn’t believe. That simply makes my heart curdle. I would never abandon my faith based on what I feel or don’t feel at church.

  Here’s the problem: we have told people that if they pray, then God will answer. If they draw near to God, God will meet with them; if they follow Jesus with all of their heart then goodness and love will follow them for all the days of their lives. I believe the Bible does say these things. What we don’t tell people is that even if God doesn’t answer, and even if he doesn’t meet with them and even if bad things happen to you – He is still God. How dare we treat God like He should give something to us! He owes us nothing and we owe him everything.