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11 Ways the Church Shuts Jesus Out
Original Post at
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Jesus said to the church in Laodicea, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock."
These words written down nearly 2000 years ago are just as poignant today.
Contrary to popular opinion, these words were not meant to be used as a personal invitation to accept Jesus into your heart as your own personal Saviour. Rather this "invitation" is a severe indictment of a church that is self-sufficient, complacent and only marginally Christian.
In other words, a church that has shut Jesus out.
Here are 11 ways the church shuts Jesus out.
1. Equating worship with singing songs. (Most of the time, worship doesn't even have anything to do with singing. I suspect Jesus would be most pleased if our definition of worship included phrases like "not conforming to this world", "offering ourselves as living sacrifices", and serving others.
2. Taming Jesus. (This is usually done by portraying Jesus as a gentle, meek and mild being rather than an extremist, a radical, or a revolutionary who was also know by his contemporaries as a heretic, a drunkard, a glutton, and a usurper of institutional religion. In this regard, I highly recommend Rejesus: A Wild Messiah For A Missional Church.)
3. Being religious. (Except in the sense of these words of Jesus' brother: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: looking after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from polluted by the world")
4. Segregating the congregation (or, separating families) so that the families become individuals once the worship service starts. Children off to their classrooms, high school students to theirs and adults into the sanctuary!
5. Creating no significant space for singles and women. These two demographics represent two of the fastest growing groups that are quitting church. If you don't believe me, see Julia Duin's book Quitting Church.
6. Subverting authentic Christianity by constructing religious systems to take the of place an original encounter with God in order to keep the experience alive.
7. Defining "church" as the building or the place where they meet, rather than the people of God.
8. Ignoring the poor.
9. Pretending Jesus is not interested in politics.
10. Attempting to get people to come to the church rather than taking the church to them.
11. Encouraging people to simply accept Jesus into their heart at the expense of a lifelong journey of following Him
Comment
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Comment by John F. Morin on April 13, 2011 at 11:23am -
A major part of being renewed in our thinking is to let go of trust in human means to better the world. One prayer is worth countless votes AND includes God in the process.
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Comment by John F. Morin on April 13, 2011 at 11:21am
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Agreed except for point #9. It is backwards. The mainstream church goers are basically all republicans (conservatives).
A true disciple is a pilgrim in the world and doesn't entangle himself in things of this world. He has no enduring city. He is as a stranger in his own land and as comfortable as a native in a foreign land. He seeks a higher power. He is not a servant of society, but a servant of God. He seeks to preserve the world through faith not make it more palatable through a re-arrangement of human means.
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Comment by Joel Black on May 1, 2009 at 1:15am -
Ron, I hear you and I agree with you. Do you consider house church as part of the IC? A lot of the above list can also be applied to house churches, and organic churches as well. But, you are right - WE are the people of God and we can't shut Jesus out of the church because WE are the church. I am referring to "church gatherings" - none of it applies to the church "outside of the church" Does that make sense?
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Comment by Joel Black on April 30, 2009 at 9:01pm
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Pen4Him and Kenny&Hayley, thank you for your kind comments. Kenny, I read once that Brian Doerksen's song "Come, Now is the Time to Worship" was originally written to be sung at the end of a worship service, not the beginning. Singing that song at the end as everyone is filing out in to the world, their family and workplaces would add a whole new meaning to it, wouldn't it?
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Comment by Kenny Russell on April 18, 2009 at 7:52am -
HI Joel, I like what you have written and welcome to Organic Church Today. Having worship as No1 is great as presenting our bodies before the Lord is how we enter into his presence and this is not about a song. I have a message on worship in this way hear is a link to a sample click here
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