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From consumerism to commitment in faith
Rev. Mike Slaughter, the now-retired pastor of Ginghamsburg Church in Ohio, once said “churches have lowered the bar of discipleship for membership.” He indicated that church leaders were more eager to fill the pews (and pad our attendance numbers) than cultivate committed followers of Jesus Christ.
Harsh? Maybe. But maybe not harsh enough. Because over the course of the past few decades (maybe), we’ve been turning our churches into service providers.
What we look for in church
People come into church with a consumerist mentality and churches, afraid of losing people (and the metrics of attendance and giving they bring), try to meet the demands of these consumers.
“I want a church with great preaching.”
“I want a church with an active singles ministry.”
“I want a church with a strong children’s program.”
“I want a church with good worship and great music.”
Do you see what all that has in common? The self.
Please, don’t get me wrong. It’s not altogether bad to look for things like that when looking for a faith community or church. The thing is, too many of us don’t grow out of consuming church.
Ask any pastor and they’ll tell you how so many people want something but nobody wants to be part of the team to make it happen.
Once, someone asked me why our church didn’t have a particular ministry. I offered that we could start it together, and that I would help this person recruit to get it going. The ministry seemed like a passion of theirs. They simply responded, “But then why am I giving offering for y’all’s salary if I need to get this rolling?”
I think commitment to church in this decade begins with de-centering ourselves. We really need to embody the opening sentence from Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life: It’s not about you. Because it’s really not.
We gather with the purpose of loving Jesus and serving others. In order to do those both effectively, we have to be sacrificial; we have to embody sacrificial love, the kind that Jesus modeled and practiced.
Consumer or committed?
At some point, our commitment to church (and more importantly, commitment to follow Jesus) requires us to let go of being a consumer of church and transition into being a servant of Christ. You can’t be both a consumer and a disciple.
This requires us to let go of our preferences for the sake of the gospel; for the sake of the mission of the church you’re part of; for the sake of the person who hasn’t stepped foot into your church yet.I think another thing we need to do in our commitment to local church is to invest in the local community. Now, any time a pastors talk about “investing” in a community, you may (instinctively) start rolling your eyes thinking, “Here they go, talking about money. Again.” I totally understand the distrust that many have when it comes to money and religion. Too many pastors have violated that trust and have taken advantage of people to line their pockets.
At the same time, Jesus knew the importance of money and talked about money more than anything else in his ministry, outside of the Kingdom of God.
But today, when I talk about investing( yes money is included) it goes beyond investing your hard-earned income. We need to invest ourselves in our churches. We need to plant deep roots in the church that we have chosen so that we can weather all the storms that come from being in community together.
There will be seasons on our faith journeys when we can’t do anything but receive. But like all seasons, that’s not a permanent state.
When we’re in a position to give ourselves for the sake of the church’s mission (which hopefully is aligned with the message of Jesus’ Gospel), we need to give ourselves to serve and love our neighbors. That looks different for different people.
If you are already part of a church community, what are ways that you can serve? How can you be more involved than just showing up to worship? What steps can you take move away from being a consumer of Christianity to a disciple of Christ?
If you are in a season, where you need all the help you can get — I hope your community is there to help you; nurse you; strengthen you; bring you hope and peace and joy. If you find yourself in a position to serve and give, I hope that you love and serve in the best to your capacity.
Joseph Yoo is the author When the Saints Go Flying in. He is a West Coaster at heart contently living in Houston, Texas with his wife and son. He serves at Mosaic Church in Houston. Find more of his writing at josephyoo.com.
