Bev and I were in South Carolina last month to visit our son. Every time I am there, I can't help but notice the amount of billboards extolling the virtues of attending specific churches. It seems as if churches are competing for a clientele, attempting to lure people with promises of satisfaction. Is that what the Kingdom of God is about - getting people into my building to be part of my clientele?
Yet it is not just in South Carolina that this attitude prevails. Recently I had to attend a business meeting at a local restaurant. As I was entering the restaurant, I met an acquaintance at the cash register. He began to tell me about a specific waitress to whom he had been talking. He wanted me to know that he was sure she could be convinced to attend Grace Covenant Church. He wanted me to "close the deal" with her.
Is that what Christianity is about? Are we to convince people of the value of the services they will receive if they attend our church? Sometimes I wonder if Christians have attended a used car sales training seminar. To me it all feels more like we are trying to sell used cars than inviting people into our lives to see firsthand our journey with Jesus. Quite frankly, I think we are more interested in building our own kingdom than we are about the expansion of God's kingdom. In my opinion, the good news of God's present kingdom here on earth is frequently lost in our efforts to build our church.
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And if you start to attend the church and do not conform to their ways, you are then rejected or even asked to leave. (Don't tell me how to live... walk with me..... and me with you!!!) Now that's the way Jesus did it! Where did we start to get it wrong?
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