Think and Do Christianity

Christianity in America today has become a performance based religion. Our linear mindsets coupled with microwave results have caused an alarming drift from a relationship with Christ. We "born again" Christians have boasted that our belief system is based on a relationship not a religion. However it grieves me to see too many Christian leaders who have fallen into a trap of performance. Our success driven churches have become more enamored with the bottom line than true intimacy with the living Christ.

We Evangelicals have been proud of our loyalty to the scriptures, thus we have had a measure of success in increasing the knowledge of the average person in the pew. Unfortunately most Christians find themselves motivated intellectually to obey what they have learned without taking the time to allow God to cultivate truth in the depths of their hearts. Thus there is no ownership, conviction, or real transformation. The result is, we try and obey what God's truth is telling us without the real inward motivation of the Spirit.

No wonder we are not seeing as many transformed lives. We have bought into a a think and do mentality, skipping the most important part: "the being".

When is the last time you really have allowed God some extended time to have truth penetrate your heart instead of taking the usual bypass?

I thought heart bypass was only in the medical world. Maybe not?

SECRET SHOPPER

When I worked in a retail store many years ago, often a secret shopper would come and evaluate everything from the curb appeal to the service.

Have you ever enlisted an objective outsider to come to your church as a secret shopper? What would they experience from the curb appeal to the parking lot to the service?

I would encourage you to solicit someone from off the street to do an evaluation as well as someone who has been in many churches. Wil Mancini writes in his book, "Unique Church" these insightful words. "Most churches are like an animal at the zoo that only looks in the mirror. They have a hard time seeing their unique potential because there is little experience comparing and contrasting with other animals."

Here are some questions you can ask yourself that might bring a more objective view of your church from Mancini's book.

1. If a guest visited your church how would they answer this question? What did they like best about your church? What did they like least?

2. If you were bringing a guest to your church for the first time, what singular promise would you most be willing to make, in what they would experience?

3. If you were stop nonmembers who drive by the church regularly and ask them how they feel about the church, what would they say?

4. If your church was gone from the neighborhood what would the community be missing?

5. What is the biggest impact our church has made in the community?

6. What atmosphere do you tend to create when your people meet together on Sunday?

7. What do your new members say attracted them to your church?

8. If your church were a hotel or department store, which one would it be?

Maybe it is time for other animals to check out your cage?