"The Church no longer meets my needs"
"I don't feel like I get much out of church"
"My kids are not catered for at church"
"I'm moving here, because my last church wasn't doing it for me"
Too many consumers of worship. Church is not a tuck shop full of things to get. It is not about receiving goods and services.
We gather together as the Church to worship God, to thank him for what he is doing in our lives, as well as all of creation. Spread the word - it's time to stop this get get get mentality. Lets rid the churches of the feed me, feed me, feed me kind of philosophy. Lets replace it with an 'others' focus. Fix your eyes on Jesus, and not the eloquence of the preacher, or the muscial prowess of the musicians...
We are not consumers of worship, rather, we are followers of Jesus. Share
It may be the case that some people are "consumers of worship." However, I am very disturbed at the seeming lack of interest in delivering pastoral care that I've noticed at the blogs of three SA officers: Armybarmy, TCSpeak, and now, yours. You all seem to be forgetting that people need to be fed before they are sent to serve others. Don't give me the "adults/mature believers feed themselves" line, either. If they should feed themselves, then why do you bother preaching to them? Surely they can pray and sing praises without listening to a sermon. Isn't one of the ways God intends to do something in the lives of believers through the pastoral care and teaching they receive from their leaders? Sorry, but your line of thought seems to be a copout for officers/preachers who don't want to accept their share of the responsibility when the people in the pews are starving spiritually.
ReplyDeleteI dont think Pete is attempting to throw the pastoral care out of the bath of what church is/should be/could be.
ReplyDeleteI think he is meaning that as adults we should take some kind of responsibility/accountability in our attitudes towards church.
Pastoral care is in the eye of the beholder. We all have differing needs and requirements of pastoral care. Some one who has just been saved has differing pastoral care to someone who has been a mature christian for over 30 yrs. It is up to us to communicate our needs to our shephard. They cannot read our minds!
At the end of the day Pete, James and Stephen will be accountable before the Lord as their roles as shephards. They will receive His judgement. They deserve our prayers. They are human beings and are not perfect.
I grew up in charasmatic circles on the gold coast. The term "cruzamatics" became common place as pentecostals zoomed around different churches weekly, constantly searching for the "perfect" place of worship. They still do it today, and church has become a marketing push of trendy people, clothes, clubs. Church has become a "trademark" in which to somehow "wear". Where you go has certain "status" attatched to it. Im sure most have forgotten who they worship at all! I think Pete is possibly guarding against something like the gold coast status of current pentecostal christianity.
People do need to be fed, but its up to the congregation what they do with the food. Swallow, or spew! James, Pete and Stephen cant be around to constantly spoon feed us and sit on us till we swallow.
God bless, salvo in tas.