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Looking for God in All the Wrong Places
by Greg Albrecht
I’m sorry,” my friend said, “but I’m worried about going to church. In the first place, I have had some bad experiences with churches in the past. What really worries me about going to church is the fear of the unknown. I don’t dance, so I don’t go to dances. It’s the same with traditional churches. I don’t know whether they will expect me to find passages in the Bible, whether they will chant, speak in tongues or raise their hands when they are singing. I’m worried about looking for God in all the wrong places!”
It reminded me of a story I once heard about a group of American sailors who were on shore leave in Italy. Even though none of them spoke Italian, they decided to go to church, because it might be a good place to meet girls. When they arrived at the cathedral, they picked out a dignified gentleman to sit behind. They agreed to do what he did, because he looked like he knew what he was doing. During the service, the priest made an announcement, and the man in front of them stood up. All eight sailors stood up as well, only to be greeted by roars of laughter from the congregation.
When the service was finally over, the sailors met the priest as they left. The priest, who also spoke English, shared with them what the congregation had found so funny during the service. “I announced a baptism,” he explained, “and I asked the father of the child to stand.”
You can be a Christian and not attend a church. But if you have had a bad church experience, don’t write off all forms of worship. You may not wish to attend a formal, traditional church, but there are other options that could help your relationship with God. You might choose a less structured small group, an informal Bible study or even worship with others electronically.
So, if you are like my friend, seeking God without all the religious stuff, what should you look for?
• Look for a part of the body of Christ where Jesus is the center and focus of the preaching and where the Bible is the final authority. If that doesn’t happen, move on down the road.
• Examine the statements of faith and mission statements. Be sure you read the complete statement of beliefs, not an abbreviated version. Find out what they really believe. If you suspect some minimizing and diminishing of God’s grace and the centrality of Jesus Christ, then question the leadership. Ask about their focus. Always challenge performance-based religion.
• If a church or religious group spends time and effort explaining a lot of stuff about the founder of the church or group, that’s a huge red flag. If anyone other than God or the Bible is cited as a source of authority for behavior or doctrine, that’s another red flag. Christianity is all about Jesus.
• Be on guard for a pastor or church that tells you that everyone else is wrong. Watch for enticing rhetoric, which claims that no one else knows the “truth” except this group. If you hear talk about special anointings, inside revelation and esoteric knowledge, head for the parking lot.
• Find out where the ministry or group stands on the historic Christian faith. A healthy church does not see itself or promote itself outside of and superior to what Christ has done here on earth for almost 2,000 years, but as a part of it. A healthy, well-balanced part of Christ’s body finds its identity in Jesus and his body, the historic Christian faith. If a church finds its identity in some other way or in some other name, keep on looking, you haven’t found a healthy church! If they talk about themselves as being a restoration of the truth that no one has experienced since the New Testament, don’t stick around. Things will probably go downhill from there.
• Consider the extent of authority. Red flags should include authoritarian pastors who will not allow questions about their leadership or the direction of the ministry, movement or congregation. While there is no biblical model of church governance which will characterize authentic Christianity, the idea that leaders are exempt from accountability because they have a “spiritual covering” is a breeding ground for abuse and heresy. Keep looking. You can be almost certain that you haven’t found authentic Christianity.
• Absolute and dictatorial control in the hands of a board that legislates and enforces religious legalism is just as bad as the same domination in the hands of one person. Authentic Christianity seems to function best with checks and balances, with all human leadership held accountable to standards, for the health and vitality of everyone it serves and the body of Christ at large.
• Find out how they talk about and treat those who leave. If this is part of authentic Christianity, people will not be browbeaten and
threatened if they decide to change their spiritual address from one healthy part of the body of Christ to another.
• Be on guard for pastors who seem threatened by education or academic credentials. If education is derided and science characterized as evil, then the group claiming to be Christian has something to hide. Authentic Christianity is logical and coherent. It has nothing to hide and thrives on questions about all of its teachings.
• Sermons in a healthy church are centered in the Bible. The Bible is the source of the gospel, not shoe-horned as an afterthought into a feel-good lesson or experience.
• Look for Christ-centered substance,
meaning and relevance. Be suspicious of glitz, entertainment for its own sake and an emphasis on emotional feeling.
• Beware of exotic manifestations, claims of unique prophetic insights, guarantees of wealth and healing and revival crusades that seem to be more hype than reality.
• A healthy part of Christ’s body will accept the basic, fundamental and essential core doctrines of Christianity. Jude 3 tells us that the faith has been once and for all entrusted to the saints. Jesus said that the gates of hell would not prevail against his church. So we can look to the history of Christianity to find those teachings that have been examined, affirmed and
re-affirmed, as well as issues that have been redefined and reformed.
• Finally, and perhaps most importantly, listen and look for grace. You will hear lots of sermons about grace in a healthy church. You will even witness and enjoy some gracious behavior. You will see, hear and experience Jesus, not religion. The health of an authentic part of Christ’s body is directly related to its emphasis and insistence on God’s grace. |
