Could it be that our preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
is leading people to a key misunderstanding
of what they are committing to?

I believe that we are!

For the past ten years, I have been traveling around the country and observing the various churches I have been invited to serve. In my discussions with their staff, a common thread has become apparent to me that has not been easily identifiable.  I couldn’t help but notice a common disconnect between believers’ commitment to Christ and any commitment to the Church, which is His Body.

My experience is that when something is broken, if you study it and how it works long enough you can usually identify the reason why it is broken. I believe that is what has happened in my study of why so many in our church treat the Church like a country club or a product.

Of course, the powerful influence of our culture can share much of the blame, but I believe there are some things that we might be able to do to “right the ship.” One of the major influences in our culture is the pervasive thought of self-identity as being central to life. In other words, western culture is very subjective and WE ARE THE SUBJECT! We look at life solely from the perspective of how things affect us.

How does this affect us?

Our “personal relationship” with God is just that – PERSONAL and OURS. After conversion, if not properly guided, we may grow in our newfound relationship with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but not in our relationship with the Church. Thus, we tend to see our faith based on a commitment to God only, and not His Church.

I believe that in our efforts to lead people to Christ, we have inadvertently neglected to preach/teach that to make a commitment to Christ is to make a commitment to Him and His Body, the Church.

At the end of Acts, chapter two, we see the four fundamental disciplines the early church devoted themselves to. One of them was the “Fellowship” – those who had also encountered the Lord. A vital part of our relationship with Christ is to come out of the world and into the body of Christ.

As a father, I want to enfold my earthly family into the family of God and teach them to be committed to God’s family, the Church.

I believe that preachers of the Gospel, and catechists after them, should be making a greater emphasis on our union through conversion to the Church. This should be stipulated up front, before a call to commitment, so that individuals have a clear understanding of what they are giving themselves to. It’s not just to God, but to the entire Body!!!!