A friend of mine, Tony Wheeler, has a blog that I like to read. Actually reading some of this stuff has actually helped inspire me to write a bit more as well. I am finding that as I write I learn, and as I learn, I grow in my understanding of who God is and who I am. So this blogging thing is working out fairly well. Well today Tony posted a new blog where he uses the term Churchianity. Out of all of the un-words I have ever heard or made up myself, this one is probably one of the best. There are people who attend Church on Sunday because that is the thing to do, not because they are there to worship. For many people even the word Church means the building that they meet in on Sunday. Now I am not trying to bash Sunday or Wednesday, or Tuesday or Thursday gatherings of believers (or any other random day). But Church has become a part of our culture so much that there are people who are more Churchians than they are Christians. What I mean is that they do Church activities instead of serving Christ. This is easy to fall into, because Christ loves the Church and so should we. We should be involved in and with the Church. But the Church is not a building, it is all of the people who are followers of Christ. So if our focus of our faith becomes going into a building at a specific time, then we have become Churchians. And even if the focus of our faith is spending time with followers of Christ and not on Christ himself we have become Churchains. So Tony, thanks for this new word. Churchianity, it sounds like a very poor alternative to Christianity but one that I think people have gotten trapped in. I know there have been times in my life where I have been a Churchian more than a Christian. Now I can label that time with a cool word.
Very true. I heard a missionary from East St. Louis his name is Jay Covert, he is a graduate from Teen Challenge. He used to be a heavy using drug addict who is now preaching the gospel to those in need. In his speech he talked about churchians in a way. He said many people look at church as some sort of club that is exclusive, where christians just go to hang out with other christians. He told a story about how he was standing on the street corner speaking with a few prostitutes and praying with them and giving them some hygiene kits. He said right about then a car pulled up slowly and barely rolled down the window and handed out a few pieces of paper. The papers were tracks on how to be saved. He said they told them nothing and then drove away. He said that is what is wrong with most Christians today. He also talked about how many people drive by when the church has a picnic or something and many people will say simply ” ooh look the church is having another party for themselves. I think we as Christians get too comfortable sometimes. We are the children of light, we should go to the dark places, light moves darkness doesn’t. Jay’s ministry consists of loving people like Jesus did. Jesus did not separate himself from sinner, quite the opposite actually, he would seek out the sinners, The poor, The sick, The tax collectors. He gave us the perfect example to follow. I don’t believe it isn’t always what we say as Christians but we need to do is love them like Jesus. I know that I don’t have all the answers in life, but I know sometimes we have to get out of our Churchian attitude and get a little uncomfortable and love people as Jesus showed us.
Matthew 9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.
10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.
11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.