Have we built a “Secular Church”.

I was recently engaged in a conversation with an old friend.  She was telling me the story of trying to find a church home.  She shared the story of visiting different churches, and the different reactions of church members she met.  (By the way those reactions ran the gambit from warm and gracious to strange and rude.  But that is a blog for another occasions.)  As we talked, she made a statement that took me by complete surprise.  She said, “When we have visited secular churches…”

I interrupted her and said, “Back up.  What do you mean by ‘secular churches?’”  I have known this young lady for a long time.  I know that she is a committed Christian; she is orthodox in her beliefs and genuine in her faith.  I also know she is not some air headed goofball to be taken in by cults, scams, or charlatans.  She has multiple college degrees; she worked in bio-medical field before shifting over to education and has a profound and deep theology.  I knew she wasn’t talking about a Universalist Unitarian, Unity Faith, or some Humanist/Atheist fellowship.  So I pressed her by what she meant by the term “secular church”.

She said, “Well, that is not a really good description to use.” 

Over the next few minutes she thought out loud, and I asked questions and what she said was pretty profound.  She talked about churches that were contemporary and traditional, some were hand-raising congregation and others would be shocked by a quiet ‘Amen’.  Some of these churches were suburban, some rural, some were old, both in age of attendees and in the age of the congregation. Some were young congregations, again in history and membership.  What she finally came up with was the sense that churches were secular because the focus was on themselves.   Please note, that her reference was not to a style of worship or music or a denomination or  age.  It was something much deeper than the forms and facades. 

It seems, at times, that the worship service can become about what a great church any given church is.  Each church has a niche on which they hang their claim to fame.  “We are great because we _______…. fill in the blank with what ever you like. (Are traditional, are contemporary, are Seeker Sensitive, are Liturgical, we baptize the right way, we are the fastest growing, have the right doctrine about blah, blah, blah.)  We get hooked on some tradition or technique, hear a great speaker, see something effective somewhere and we want to reproduce those results.  We want our members and attendees to validate our ministry or church, so we lead cheers for who we are and what we are doing.  And sometimes we get in the way, so people can’t see Jesus.

This dear lady who spoke of secular churches would never describe herself as a prophetess or the daughter of a prophetess.  She doesn’t claim that her experience is not universal, nor that what she says applies to every church.  But she does have a point that we need to examine and re-examine.  Are we impressing people with who we are and what we can do, or are we pointing people to Jesus?

Bonhoeffer’s great work, The Cost of Discipleship, may be best known for its stirring paragraph about “Cheap Grace”.  But he begins the introduction to that book with these two sentences:

Revival of church life always brings in its train a richer understanding of the Scriptures.  Behind all the slogans and catchwords of ecclesiastical controversy, necessary though they are, there arises a more determined quest for Him who is the sole object of it all, for Jesus Christ Himself.

Every day, as individual disciples and as leaders, we need to stop and consider, “Are we looking for, and helping others look for Jesus, or are we getting in the way?”