Though I love ministry with an undeniable passion, I’m not ignorant to it’s other side.
There are many unconfronted truths about the work that I adore, hidden behind church politics and the curtain of religion.
Simply put, the “church” overall is guilty of adopting the SHOW must go on attitude.
It’s evident in how we offer worship and praise to God.
It’s evident in how we treat people and each other.
It’s evident in the standards we choose to lower, accept and compromise with.
And it makes me wonder, when did Jesus stop being enough and when did we start thinking we could run His church without Him?
Serious question, inquiring minds (like mine) want to know.
We’ve kept the show going but have completely ignored the “headliner”, the Savior of the world.
He’s the only star, focal point and reason why we sing, because His light is the only one that can abolish darkness!
Not your musical giftings, preaching style, title or number of church attendees.
Gospel artist, Leandria Johnson’s rant about the church earlier this week, was full of expletives, obvious anger and yes it could been delivered in a better way, but her overall message wasn’t far fetched.
It was just the side of truth concerning the church, that too many choose to ignore.
It’s the truth that makes people leave the church and the truth that keeps them from coming back.
This post isn’t necessarily for the saints and folks too prideful to admit foul play but for those in and outside the church that recognizes there’s a problem here, a confrontation long overdue.
Instead of condoning everything presented and advocated for in the church, we should be pleading for God to cleanse us of everything not like Him.
Things like wanting a position over having God’s power working through us or wanting fashion to be projected more than our faith.
We need God to corporately cleanse His bride of the root of all evil.
We need him to strip us of showmanship mentality and competition.
We need the Holy Spirit to speak on our behalves and minister to people versus what we think they need to hear.
We need to allow the mender of broken things to heal the areas in our lives that have crippled us, causing us to lay our blood stained banners down and hold up man’s flag.
AND we need to work towards rebuilding the temple that we’ve torn down with our actions and impurities of the heart.
All of this, every scandal, pew secret and traditional protocol has contributed to the notion that God’s not real because no one sees Him through us anymore.
They see our sin.
The state of the church is a systemic issue and regardless of your denomination, it’s affected the Body of Christ as a whole.
Sure a new pastor or relieving people of positions may override the issues in your individual ministries, churches and organizations for a while but corporate problems require corporate solutions.
If a computer virus shuts down your systems at work, the IT department most likely isn’t just going to work on your computer alone to fix the issue.
Probably more often than not, they’ll perform a system wide update to alleviate the problem from the whole office.
So, can this be done with our faith too?
Of course it can. But only if we’re willing to fix it.
We can start with these solutions…
For one, we can acknowledge that Jesus is the Chief Cornerstone and repent for ever thinking that we can make it in this life without Him, all the while accepting that whatever is built on Him is the only thing that will last.
Second, we can remember that hell is for somebody and without holiness (living the way God instructs His people to live, accepting the contents of all 66 books), no man shall see Him.
Third, we can perform a heart check of the good, bad and ugly within and realize that we’re not that important in the grand scheme of things.
You need God. He doesn’t need you!
Fourth, once we acknowledge our errors, we can consistently work towards changing our behavior.
If you know God isn’t pleased with something you’re doing, STOP DOING IT
[But only if you wanna be free, another post for another time] 😉 .
Finally, correct and enforce consequences on those that still want to walk in the old way.
Example, no ma’am, no sir, you cannot continue to wear a collar and still sleep with any and everyone that allows you in.
No ma’am, no sir, you may not serve the pastor and continue to drink and smoke.
No ma’am, no sir, you may not sing on this praise team with your breast, panty lines or other secluded parts on full display and no ma’am, no sir you may not, you cannot, continue to be a greeter at our front door with a nasty attitude and zero people skills.
I think those are doable. Don’t you?
We can and should want to do better.
It will take excessive commitment and consistency to repair the breach but it all starts with you; making the choice to do your part in the resolution.
When we all begin to reevaluate our faith walks, weeding out the things that don’t belong, we’ll begin to see a collective difference in our impact on the Great Commission and how it’s viewed.
Written with Love,
Chassidy Michelle