Why I Can't Stand Consumer Christianity
I like to make this blog about positive things, but once in a while I'll divert. I think today is one of those days. Revolutionary Love is stirring something in me. I am so amazed to see hundreds of people give away so self-lessly. Love that!
There is a growing distaste…dislike…revulsion (yeah) inside me toward consumer Christianity. I think it's there because God is still beating the remains of consumer Christianity out of me. It's easy to build a church on being cool or by promising what you can do for your members. It's hard to build a church based on what you can give away and how you can sacrifice. But it's so much more rewarding.
I'm convinced that the Christian sub-culture many followers of Jesus are caught up in is a form of Christianity but not the real deal. Why? Much of what passes as North American Christianity is basically self-directed. Our unstated-but-very-apparent goal after conversion is to feed ourselves, protect our families, live in a bubble and get to heaven (and maybe self-righteouslly tell others why they are not going to heaven).
One of the most basic (and hardest to live out) tenets of being a Christ follower is to die to self. That's what baptism symbolizes. That's at the heart of Jesus' teaching. Die to yourself. Live for others. Consumer culture teaches the opposite: live to myself and live for myself. Somehow a lot of us still drink that Kool-aid.
I'm increasingly convinced that church shopping kills disciples. Pick a church. Join that mission. Stick with it. Forget what it can do for your family. Give yourself away. In that, you will find life.
Stop asking what your church can do for you and start asking what you can do for your neighbours and friends and people far from Christ.
Although I really like Connexus, where I serve, I hope Connexus becomes a church where I don't like the music and don't even fully "get" the ministry, but I've thrown myself into it because it's connecting the next generation with Christ. I would rather sweep floors in a church I don't like that's being effective, than spend a thousand days in some place where only the already-convinced feel gratitfied.
So I'm ranting today. Reaction? Any one else cheesed?
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