By ‘Church” I mean these segregated meeting halls ‘followers’ of Jesus attend for worship and a pep talk once or twice a week. I have almost completely lost my faith in their ability not only to change the world, but to impact their communities in the sorts of profound ways we read about in the New Testament or in any significant way for that matter. I cannot see in these lavish, over-produced, inauthentic temples of false hope the power and pathos that can be found in the history of the early church and many movements around the world where dedicated followers of Christ live in solidarity with the oppressed, poor and marginalized of our societies. I will here share 5 realizations I have had regarding our Sunday fragmentation’s that strike me as relevant to this post.

1. Appearance and Performance: We parade ourselves before one another without the ability to speak to one another, we are there to watch and listen, not to participate. A glorified sporting event where we are nothing but spectators despite what we might like to claim as “feeling it”. How can one actively participate in a church service anymore than one could actively participate while watching tv at home? We are not invited into the inner-circle or decision making when there are clear separations between those in charge and those who come to watch. We come to watch and agree with a band and then a pastor who perform their act, and we are entertained and possibly even moved a little. But we are not moved to lasting change, we cannot ask questions that are applicable to our own personal lives, or push back to what the performers have done, they could not possibly have any sort of interaction with each individual present at the function. We are there to bolster our own appearance to the community and to watch their performance from our seats without changing our communities or being changed ourselves.

2. Centralization of Power: How could one possibly speak for the whole? Instead of effecting change through engaging in community speech acts of mutual dialogue, a congregation tacitly consents, by their very attendance, to giving up their voice to another. And it is by giving up our voices that we also give up our participation and our quest for lasting transformation.

3. Waste of Resources: We come together in buildings that need not be constructed for the church to exist. We squander the resources God has entrusted and blessed us with not for the building of a more just and peaceful world, but for the building of more beautiful temples to be entertained in. We have the very finest sound machines, the newest electric gadgets and useless doohickeys that amplify only our entertainment, they cannot give life.

We drive our SUVs from all over to hear a pastor whom we already agree with and pollute our violated world even more in the process of making ourselves feel better. We over-consume before church as we grab a latte on the way and afterward as we go out and eat at expensive restaurants, both of which cost more than what we decided to tithe in the time between before and after. And to think of all the things we could be doing in our own neighborhoods in that time on Sunday morn. We could mend relationships that started off on the wrong foot so long ago, we could plant a rose garden, we could be known by our love. Maybe rather than locking ourselves in a building on Sunday morn we could try something different next week…just a thought…

4. The Way is Narrow: Apparently Jesus didn’t mean it when He said that the way was narrow and that it would be difficult to be His followers. It is far easier to ignore this statement when we can just to listen to a pastor who is paid to be a Christian for us. A person most often a man that we have no access to, who will only be able to tell us what to think, or speak at us, but who’s words are so general that to critically look at our own existence doesn’t occur to us. Let alone being able to bring oneself before a community for a process of discerning what may not be in line with the teachings of Christ. With all this generality why would we want to get specific with a community of people that we don’t want to know our business, this sounds too hard, too uncomfortable and too boring. Why would we want to look at the ways in which we are currently living that are inconsistent with the Gospel of Christ? If we are not forced to, besides our lives are pretty easy in America, what we want when we want, as always plenty of cheap crap quick, especially from the pulpit.

I spoke to a professed Christian who is involved at his church 2 to 3 times a week about the dangers of ignorance in the ways in which we spend our money. I told him about the reality of sweatshops and the problem of our culture with any sort of responsible sustainable practices that are important for the future. And most of all that it is important for Christians to be aware of where our products come from and the legacy our consumption will leave behind. If we want to stand against oppression in this world with any sort of integrity it is important to be informed about where our material goods come from so that we can avoid the systematic oppression of peoples and the raping of our earth for quick profits.

There are many examples, the oppression of people in sweatshops for cheap jeans, slave labor used to produce chocolate, corporations and governments that take away entire under-privileged communities supplies of water, farmland and so on that are inconsistent with the Gospel of Christ and Christians are called to stand in stark contrast to. He responded to me by saying, “if people want me to act differently and to buy ethically made cloths, food or other products, they need to make it easier and cheap.” I was silent for a little while as I understood that he didn’t give a damn at all, it didn’t matter if little girls lost their eyes or hands in a Disney factory, he would still buy the cheapest crap that looked the coolest because he can. What a shame, if these are the sorts of people our churches of commodity produce, people who don’t care what Jesus said, as long as they look good at a social gathering. For them they are Christian enough, Jesus is just another tool used for hip people to get laid. If it’s too hard, most church people are simply not interested, and they get uncomfortable when you bring into question whether or not it is ethical to buy a diamond that was from a conflict region because it was an unbelievable deal. If you connect the dots it’s no wonder I have almost entirely lost my faith in organized churches and I know many others who have similar inclinations.

5. Entitlement and Self-fulfillment: Our churches reinforce the notion of our individual rights that Christians have to continue living in whatever way they choose, continuing to over-consume, over-pollute, over-simplify and under-question. With our allegiance to our own well being and our own beliefs above those of our communities, our friends, and our God it is no wonder we struggle to remain changed. If our allegiance is to the Kingdom of God our lives must bear fruit. No fruit is born out of feeling good about ourselves and being socially accepted by our fellow parishioners.

How can these sorts of churches possibly show us the Narrow way when by their very constitutions they by necessity must take the broad way. I’m not sure where most churches think they are leading their members, but is seems like they are lost in the wilderness of consumerism, self-importance above all else and fragmentation. If I weren’t already a Christian it would be impossible for these churches with names like substance, where there isn’t any, to dupe me into converting into the sort of mindless consumerism that advocates any form of the unsustainable American dream. These fragmented structures that we spend an hour or two a week in are not the answer, they are incapable of creating a lasting change in their communities when the majority of those in attendance don’t live anywhere near them in the first place.

If the Church fails time and time again to produce disciples among the professed believers, what chance does it have to produce new ones? If the church is being drowned out by the cries for more, bigger, better, newer etc. and even joining in the cry what are we to do? Many simply want what is fashionable no matter the cost. We would step on the heads of our own grandmothers to live our lives in whichever way we feel entitled, but the narrow way of Jesus calls us to renounce our rights, and give up our lives so that we might find the life that is truly life…Thus the dissonance and the reason for my unbelief.

About JoshuaDbauIII

Joshua David Bau is a Doctor of Ministry Student in social and economic innovation at Bethel Seminary in collusion with Trans4m University in Geneva, Switzerland. He lives in St. Paul with his beautiful wife Gracie. He enjoys long walks on the street, painting and cooking.