If you have been following developments within the faith of the Western Church over the last decade or more, you may notice a number of odd and worrying things take place. The rise of modern contemporary worship has driven most younger people away from the more "traditional" churches that once decorated the blocks of towns and cities accross America. I know firsthand that this movement has sought to bring passion and energy back into the worship of the Church, hoping to reach out to today's technologically driven society. In response, those who hold to the more liturgical forms of worship have claimed that those in the contemporary movement are only seeking their own emotional needs rather than a desire to truly worship the God of the Bible. They have an argument in many cases.
Meanwhile, new emerging and emergent Churches seek to find new ways of reaching out to the lost, broken world that both parties claim to be Biblical. And the debates are not solely ecclesiological (focused on the church and how it should operate), but theological as well (a trend which is only about 2000 years old). As I type this, Pastor Rob Bell's new book Love Wins has already caused great controversy and debate just days after its release. The quesions are raised as to whether or not he is a universalist, what his view of hell really is, and what he sees as truly constituting the Gosepl. Regardless of how Bell's book is received, there are sure to be divisions in many places.
So what is wrong with the Church? I believe all of what I have mentioned stems from a problem articulated by Bell himself, as well as my friend and fellow blogger David Ketter. We have become so individualistic as believers in the West that each of us carries our own form of dogmatism. In other words, because my faith is my faith, I know I am right, and I know that anyone who disagrees with me is either mistaken or heretical and clearly does not know God like I know him. Now, while it is great to be certain of truth and what we believe, the problem is that many of us do not have the time, training, or tenacity to study Scripture properly. Couple this with the fact that we have nearly forsaken authority and wisdom from those more seasoned Christians in our lives, and we really have a problem.
Over the past four years of my educational endevours at Geneva College, I have discovered just how difficult and time consuming it is to dive into the Bible in a way that challenges me and gives me greater insight into truth. It has take me entire semesters to learn the proper ways to read and interpret the Word of God. Most theologians and pastors would probably say they even have a long way to go in this process.
But let's face it: most of us grab a quick devotion guide, read for 5-10 minutes over a cup of coffee, and then head to school or work for the day. I know this to be true of my younger generation, but I would bet that the same can be said of working adults as well. Though there is nothing overtly wrong with this, I believe it points to our spiritual laziness. We are not gaining a deeper understanding of the principles of biblical interpretation that unlock some of the mysteries of our faith and the Bible. After all, we simply don't have time. Or do we?
Maybe the problem is that we are lazy. Maybe we actually do have some extra time on our hands that we could give over to the spiritual disciplines that God uses to transform us each day. Maybe the problem is that we become so burnt out, so inudated with information that the last thing we want to do after a long day is sit down for half an hour or more and simply read and pray. While I sypathize with this situation, the problem is that spiritual maturity is not like a trip to McDonald's or Burger King. You do not order what you want and get it hot and ready in 2 minutes (and even that would be too long). It takes time, patience, struggle and discipline to experience growth. Not to mention, we have forsaken the wisdom and insight of pastors and elders who have been in the faith for a much longer period of time than we have. How in the world are we ever going to have the maturity, boldness, and power to impact this world for the Gospel if we do not even really know what the message is?
While I am sure that I will talk about this in more detail with examples in the future, I just want to get all of us thinking about our own lazy faith, and challenge us to get real for a second. We all have the time. We all have an extra hour or even more to spend with the Lord. We do, only if we really view our faith as the central aspect of our lives. Otherwise, it is easy to throw our time away doing nothing. Am I there yet? Not at all. But I know I'm convicted.
So while we disagree with one another over musical styles, or call out "heretic" before we've even read Love Wins, we must ask ourselves if we are giving God the time he deserves and whether or not we are allowing others to speak into our lives. It is easy to be a backseat-theologian. It is difficult to jump up front and allow God to direct our spiritual growth. It will be risky and even a little dangerous to our own egos and biases, but maybe this is exactly what we need if we are to be the Body of Christ God has saved us to be. After all, isn't Christ worth it?
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