“We are a living, active, powerful nightmare to the devil as souls are saved when they see God in us.”
I find church very disheartening, discouraging and all the other dis’s one can think of. I see so much of the emptiness of the world in what we do, and when I point it out, I end up looking the fool or the weird one. This makes me upset then I become the angry one; but really, I am not angry. My heart is just breaking.
Today, the Christian church seems to have deteriorated into a club with most of its members unaware of this dreadful decline. I feel as if Christians are inadvertently suffering from an identity crisis. As if the church is trying to feel its way round this world, looking for their place, in search of a role to fit into or an ideal acceptable position comparable to the ‘lock and key’ activation site of an enzyme and a chemical substrate, or identical pieces of Lego clipping together, or even amala and ewedu working in harmony on the taste buds.
We are looking for a home in this rapidly changing world we live in and that’s the problem. This world is not home and we are not of this world. There isn’t a place for us here. The world loves its own and hates anything that’s not of it.
19If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. (John 15:19 NIVUK)
Jesus Christ, our God, said the above. The world hates us and there is absolutely nothing to freak out about. On the contrary, we should rejoice in the fact that we don’t fit in. We belong to something infinitely greater. So it makes perfect sense if we find the world a difficult place to be in. It’s like asking hot oil and cold water to mix – we are made of different stuff and live for different things (or so it should be). Any congregation, indeed any individual Christian, that doesn’t find this world uncomfortable or has found their ‘lock and key’ position in this world is in serious hot, extra-spicy boiling soup. You need to get out of that pot quickly before it consumes you.
The lack of identity in the church leads to this common question I heard a lot in university and one I asked myself often after I made the decision to follow Christ: Now that I’m a Christian and have salvation, what’s the point of church? Is there any use in forcing myself out of bed on a Sunday morning or interrupting my Wednesday evening downtime after a day of studies and lectures to go all the way to church? Actually, even before my decision, I never really saw the point of church.
Unfortunately, many Christians – including (no, especially) pastors and other leaders – in church today do not see its purpose and this shows in their sermons and teachings. A lot of churches are lost like a teenager trying to discover itself but keeps finding the wrong things. The visible manifestation of the lost church varies between countries and regions but the underlying cause of the identity crisis remains the same: We have lost sight of the vision Christ has for us as His bride and taken up that of our own. Jude, the apostle, called this working according to natural instinct and not the Spirit[1].
And here is Christ’s vision:
20 ‘My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – 23 I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.24 ‘Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. (John 17:20-24 NIVUK)
The above excerpt from John’s Gospel is not one to be browsed through or read casually. It requires a reread and another and another; but even all that won’t be enough because Jesus’ prayer for His church is so rich that one receives a new revelation every time it is read with full attention. I never know where to start unpacking it and where to stop.
Jesus Christ Himself prayed for us. Think about it for one second. God became human, lived among us and prayed for us. Those are His words. After praying for the disciples present with Him earlier in the chapter, Jesus prayed for all of us who hadn’t and haven’t believed and who hadn’t and haven’t been born.
He prayed and stressed that we should be united just like He (God the Son) and God the Father are one. He wants us to be the model of the perfect loving relationship He has with the Father so that when the world sees our unity they will know God and believe in Jesus. Moreover, He has given us His glory to accomplish this unity; and most of all, He wants the church to be with Him in eternity.
From this prayer one can see that the true church is a united God chaser, proclaimer of Jesus Christ, living for eternity. This is brought about by all of us turning our eyes to God and keeping our focus unswervingly there. This is not the church one sees today which turns left, right and everywhere.
The lost church has abandoned its centre that is God, thus it is tragically divided. It has lost its footing as the witness of Jesus that the world sees. If we do preach the Gospel – and many churches don’t – it is only to ourselves, locked up inside our church buildings. Newcomers to churches today consists more of recycled members from other congregations than people making the decision to follow Christ or enquiring about the Gospel. Most of all, we are completely oblivious to eternity as we invest so much in sorting ourselves out for this life and its fleeting successes. Church is now dominated by self-chasers. And this is heart-breaking.
Going to a church service has become as good as going for a motivational seminar. Reading a Christian book these days is like reading a self-help book. No wonder people don’t know why they should go to church when they can get all these earthly things we now focus on elsewhere. Good conversation with other humans, events and game nights, tea and coffee, career’s advice, self-help talks, motivational speeches – you don’t necessarily need to go to church to get any of these. There are societies and recreational centres that offer all these quality services. We have become no better than a club; and a person can pick up, discard and move on to the next club as pleases. Church is now just another fun pastime.
No, the church exists not for this life but for eternity. We are a holy army engaged in spiritual warfare against the kingdom of darkness (otherwise we wouldn’t individually need the full armour of God). We are a living, active, powerful nightmare to the devil as souls are saved when they see God in us. We need to realise our purpose and potential in Christ. I just have to clarify here: not ‘purpose’ and ‘potential’ as in academic achievement, career and material success or marriage, or whatever else culture may deem as success. Our purpose is to be the vision Christ has for us.
Again, we should be one just as Jesus and God are one. From Jesus’s prayer, we see that the world knows that we are His when they see our unity. This cannot be overemphasised. In theory, we know this but our unity is non-existent in practice. We let our individual opinions regarding food and drink, order of church service, method of baptism, and so many other trivialities divide us. That is why we have so many denominations today – even these factions are troubled within themselves. We have focussed so much on these opinions that we have become totally unaware that we are serving God and are all seeking to please Him[2]. We need to find our unity grounded in Christ. If we are divided, how is the world supposed to take us and the Gospel we preach seriously?
Paul calls us the body of Christ. Though we may have different roles, we are one and the same person:
4For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. (Romans 12:4-5 NIVUK)
Therefore, as His body, we should live as one for the will and purpose of Jesus Christ. That is why understanding Jesus’ prayer is so important. We need to know what our head wants of us.
So, church is not a building. It is not a recreational centre. Neither is it a worker’s guild or leisure society. It is not similar to the Women’s Institute. Church is not like Weightwatchers’ Club or Alcoholics Anonymous. We need not change our mission and message to fit in with the times because if we do, we would become something else entirely, something that’s not the body of Christ. We do not need to worry about making fun a priority in order to attract people. Let the unity in Christ the world sees in us do the talking.
And why should I go to church? As a Christian, you do not go to church. You are church. Each one of us makes up the body. The God we serve and profess wishes that we should all be one so that the lost may believe. How can you be one with the body if you don’t fellowship with it? In addition, we go to church so that we may encourage one another as we journey through the suffering and discomfort of this world in the faithful hope of eternity with Jesus Christ.
[1] Jude 19
[2] Romans 14
The Mark 8 Christian 
Amen!!! Still fresh, though written years ago.
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