A Deviation from My Normal Posts...

          The church finds herself under attack all the time.  Everywhere.  From within and from without.  That's been the case since Christ instituted the church.  Immediately, persecution from the outside started.  Fairly quickly after that, false teachers sprung up and began leading people astray.

          What concerns me today is not so much "false teaching" precisely, but "false focus" I guess.  We have a problem in the church that disturbs me.  We've decided to focus on how people feel about everything.  From seating to lighting, from service times to music, from children's program to preaching, we concern ourselves with emotions.  And this is dangerous.  Because our emotions are liars!  There are times that I do not feel  like being a wife and mother, or even an adult.  It's a lot of work, frankly, and sometimes I just want to stay in bed all day and eat junk food.  I am also sure that there are days when my husband doesn't feel  like leaving our warm bed and getting up in the dark and heading to work while it's still cold and dark outside.  But he does, and I do, too.  Because, quite simply, it's the right thing to do. 

          How is this relevant to church?  Well, we've gotten off track.  We decided some time ago that a pastor and church's worth was to be found in numbers -- specifically membership/attendance, baptism, and conversions/rededications (number of people who "walk the aisle" each week).  Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't be concerned with winning the lost.  We should.  In fact, we should be more-so than we are.  Specifically, I should be more than I am.  But that's not the pastor's job on Sunday morning.  That's my job.  Each and every day.  Instead, we lay that at his feet, improperly.

          How does a church go about getting these numbers?  The easiest way is to appeal to emotions, without actually convicting anyone.  We've turned "church" into a socially acceptable addiction.  Go for an hour each week, raise your hands to upbeat music, get warm fuzzy feelings during the sermon, walk the aisle with tears streaming down your face, and leave.  No change necessary.  None.  Repeat next week.

          I remember one time my pastor at a church "back home" telling me that he could boost his numbers if he simply played on the emotions of his congregation.  He knew how.  He just refused.  And took a ton of flak for it.  His numbers weren't "high enough."  He told me that he learned at seminary how to craft a sermon in such a way for maximum emotional appeal.  But he wouldn't do it.  To this day, he's one of my favorite human beings on the planet.

          Honestly, this is manipulation, pure and simple.  And it's leading people to hell.  And that scares me.

          I'm not a pastor.  My husband isn't a pastor.  I'm just a member of a good, solid, Bible-teaching church.  It's small, and we don't even actually have an invitation to "walk the aisle" (gasp!)  The pastor there doesn't prey on emotions, but rather just teaches what's in the Bible.  And I've honestly done more growing there than anywhere else.  I've been challenged to rethink things I was sure were sound doctrine.  I've been convicted of sin in my life, of things I was doing that are wrong.

          I firmly believe if we'd stop playing with people's emotions, stop worrying so much about "outcome," success, and failure, we'd see more real change.  Actual change to people's lives that they take out into the world.  And the world will notice.  Jesus said to lift Him up, and HE would draw men to Him.  It's not my job to manipulate people into "coming to Jesus."  It's my job to lift Him up in my life.  It's HIS job to draw people to Himself.