Backsliding and church hopping are the difficult realities of our American culture. Unfortunately, some people move from church to church and back to another church with regular irregularity. Others start hot and grow cold quickly, then repeat the process again and again. The call of God is for commitment and faithfulness. The call is to bloom where you are planted, to help build up the church where you have been called, not tear it down by leaving for no good reason. And leaving to be "enterntained" is not a good reason.
The question should be "how can God use me and where can God best use me to carry out His mission in the world," not "where can I be best entertained" or where can I get that seemingly spiritual "buzz." We are called to worship God, not chase "signs" or feelings. Jesus calls us to be faithful, not to be entertained.
Instead of helping to build up a church body to serve God and do God's work, some folks are often shopping for what will serve themselves, and make them feel a certain way for at least a certain time. Worshipping God takes a back seat to satisfying oneself. That is not the proper order!
Church hopping is an example of the overall instability of our culture. It reflects a deeply troubling trend of how easily people slide in and out of commitments. “Commitment” is a revisable term at best and an increasingly negative concept to many. Reflecting the prevailing discontentment in our culture, people are endlessly looking for something "better."
But better, often means more exciting, entertaining; more satisfying to self. In an article entitled “Confessions of a (Recovering) Church-hopper”, John Fischer acknowledged that, “In our free-market, commodity-rich society, it’s understandable that we would approach church as we would a shopping mall of spiritual products and services. This is the way our culture operates. In our hymnals we can still find those great hymns of the church like ‘A Mighty Fortress’ and ‘The Church’s One Foundation,’ but in our worship and practice we are probably more consistent with the Motown hit ‘You Better Shop Around.’”
Fischer describes the following scene from a church-hopping family: “‘Where shall we go this morning, dear?’ he says. ‘The music is great at Calvary but I like the teaching at Grace.’ ‘Don’t forget the kids,’ she says. ‘The youth program at Bethany is the best of all.’ ‘I've got it. We’ll drop the kids off at Bethany and go to Grace for teaching, and then we can start going to the Saturday night worship and praise services at Calvary.’”
What’s wrong with this picture? Fischer suggests some important points:
First,we become critical consumers instead of faithful worshippers. “As consumers we reserve the right to pass judgment on the products and services we use, and the companies that service us begin to cater to our demands. ‘The customer is always right’ may work well at McDonald’s, but in a church it undermines the authority of the Word of God and the leaders God has called to represent Him. We should not go to a particular church to decide whether that church is doing everything right, but to hear from God and humbly find out where we went wrong that week in our own lives and what we need to do to make it right.”
Fischer says we become detached from what we are and who we should be when we are "consumers" instead of worshippers, when we are not doing our part to build up a church body. “When you were a child, did you ever make a church with your hands folded together, forefingers pointed up like a steeple and all your fingers interlocked inside? Remember opening your hands to see all the people? Well, that’s exactly it. We are the church. You and I are the fingers and toes and eyes and ears of the body of Christ. To be only a spectator and a consumer in church is to detach yourself from who you are — like cutting off your fingers.”
Church-hoppers also hurt the churches they hop to and then leave, because usually the new church is willing to invest time and responsibility in the church hopper, only to be left at the proverbial altar when the church "frog" hops away. Church hoppers need to remember the old advice, “If you find a perfect church, don’t join it, because once you are there it will not be perfect anymore.”
People, God is not looking for church hoppers. He is looking for church stayers, who will be faithful where God plants them, and help Him bring forth fruit in the area where He has raised up the church they have been called to be a part of in that particular body. Be a faithful member of your church.
If you feel the urge to hop, pray intently. Unless God gives you a very clear signal to hop, please stop.
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