For the past few days I have been considering something that has been bothering me for quite a while. I often read about the subversive nature of Christianity in the gospels and how a relationship with Christ is to transform the way we approach life, ministry, and one another but sometimes this is a far cry from what I see expressed in the modern church. We are to be a place where people come to connect with God in a community where the scriptures guide the way toward destiny but some how it appears as though many people come with a marketplace mentality where the congregants are "customers" and, as the old saying goes, "the customer is always right".
This type of consumer based Christianity can prevent people from truly experiencing the new life that can be ours in Christ because the purpose of the church then becomes to make us happy, meet our needs, pay our bills, inspire us to have better lives, give us stock tips, provide free daycare for our children, have great gourmet coffee for free, and never (and I mean NEVER) make us feel like we didn't receive the very best service possible. While these may be great business practices they are not necessarily biblical principles concerning the church. While "the customer is never wrong" the congregant is not a customer and due to our propensity to sin the congregant (you and I) may very well be wrong from time to time. That is why we need the Savior and the purifying work of the Holy Spirit. We can be wrong and thus stand in need of correction through the Word of God; both clergy and congregants must realize this if we are to move into the fullness of new life in Christ.
What can we do? Well, a good start is to truly surrender to the cause of Christ rather than our own selfish desires. After all, that's what it means to make Jesus LORD of your life. If He is LORD, by default you are not. Instead of coming to church focusing on how the church can serve us, let us begin to look at the church as a place that God desires to meet with us, communicate His Word to us, and allow us to share our lives, energy, expertise, and resources to bless others. From this perspective we are no longer the customers seeking to be pleased by the church and church leaders but rather we become followers of Christ seeking to be the greatest that we can be and according to Jesus "the greatest among you shall be your servant." (Matthew 23:11) So let's stop acting like customers and start acting like Christians.
