AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY.

I am tired of American Christianity, as lived out in the vast majority of churches. I think that after multiple generations of competitive churches, looking to be the most seeker-friendly, we have created a watered-down version of discipleship that is but a shadow of what God wants. And church services cater to that kind of “Normal” Christian life in America.

The cynical side of me sees that most American Christians want to come (if they want to come at all) for no more than 70 minutes of time for what is called worship. In that amount of time, they want to have a short set of great, uplifting music, a practical, encouraging message, pray a little, have a sense of personal spiritual growth, have the feeling that all is well in the church and that people are coming to Christ, and then they want to go home. Once a week, they want to be involved in a significant program, in the sense that they want to feel like they are making as much difference as possible in as short a time as possible. They might spend only an hour doing that program, but they touch maybe 50 or 100 peoples’ lives in that hour. And so with a clear conscience they can mentally “count” those 50 or 100 people as the ones they have a ministry with. Then they can go home and live their lives watching TV, managing their personal things, and generally living in the flesh, and they genuinely feel that they are in good standing with the Lord’s work.

If on Sundays they had to come prepared by, say, interceding for two hours, and they were expected to bring a song or a word for the body, if they were made uncomfortable to go across the room and discuss a difficult topic or lay hands on someone or in other ways minister to people, most American Christians (notice it is unique to American culture) would choose to go elsewhere. In short, they want to not to have to “work” at their worship.

And while a program that touches dozens of lives in an hour is certainly significant, and there are many worthwhile programs to do, it would be unfair to say that a believer is actually “discipling” 100 other people. To really do life together with other people, as Jesus did with his disciples, requires getting messy, and most of us simply don’t have the time for it.

To put it another way, American Christians feel good about their mission involvement if they tithe to the local church (which has a strong missions program), and if they give $32 a month to Compassion. They even put the picture of their sponsored child on their refrigerator and genuinely pray a little for that child from time to time. Those who are really radically committed to missions use their vacations to go on short-term missions trips, where they help to run a VBS or to build a church building, orphanage or house. And, again, with that much commitment, we can go on with our lives with a clear conscience, knowing that we are well above average in our commitment to mission.

What I am talking about, however, is everyone in a church becoming a missionary. Full time, immersing yourself into the culture and the neighbors and the needs around you. Being missional in every interaction and sacrificially committed to the neighborhood you live in. Purposely living well beneath your means, choosing to live in a needy neighborhood and to invest your life in those persons of peace who come around on a daily basis. And more.

I’m tired of the “Normal Christian Life” as we have come to know it in the United States, and I long for something radically different. Will anyone join me in that quest? So far, a few have. Several have come for a time and then have given up to go back to their NCL bubbles. That’s okay. The Suburban American Christian Life isn’t sinful. But it’s not what I long for. What I’m talking about is messy. It is not a neat and tidy outreach program, where I sweep in and bless some lives and go back to my home. There is no going back. There is only immersion.