American Individualism and the Church

On any given Sunday morning forty percent of the United States of America sits in church buildings. We sit in padded pews or chairs, in air conditioned sanctuaries, sipping coffee. That same day, six thousand Africans will die from aids. Sixteen thousand children will die from starvation. One billion people will wake up without suitable shelter or with no home at all. We sit in our churches and shut out the hurting, dying world. Our actions, or lack thereof as the church speaks volumes. Even in our silence, we communicate something. We tell them that our night out to dinner and a movie, our custom made mattress, our morning latte is more important than their problems.

We call ourselves followers of Christ. We claim to worship the God of the universe. We are recipients of his incredible grace which has reconciled our sinful selves to Him. We tell the lost and dying world that we do not care. We plug our ears, cover our eyes and say "I care more about being comfortable now than about you spending eternity separated from God and his love."

This is what we say with our actions. This is what we communicate by spending our money and time on nothing but ourselves and our comfort. We place our ten percent into the offering plate and move on ignoring the picture scripture paints of a whole life sacrificed in light of the cross. I pray this will not be our legacy. We are commanded to love and to meet needs. Scripture tells us to care for the sick, the poor, the forgotten and dying world. We are commanded to love because he first loved us and we are no better than the rest of humanity. We did not deserve his grace any more than the African dying of aids or the child in India dying of starvation. When will our hearts be broken by what breaks our Fathers heart? When will we come to the stunning realization that we are not the center of God's universe? God's glory is God's greatest passion. He is glorified when we follow Christ's example and become servants to the world and not only tell them that he loves them but show it with our lives. We must be radically devoted to His glory and to making his glory known through our lives.

I believe that Christ followers have answered this call and given their lives for the cause of the gospel. Countless ministries have been founded for these very purposes. Compassion International, World Vision, Save The Children, Feed The Children, CARE are a few of the most recognizable. These are great programs run by great people. They do incredible things but it is time for the church to do the good we ought to. We need to stop contracting out to parachurch organization to fulfill the work of the gospel. I have seen people in local churches who care and want to make a difference. We as a church need to care. We must broaden our view of sacrifice in the Christian life and understand that following Christ requires we lay down our entire life.