What have we made of Christianity?

Warning: Opinionated ramblings ahead.

If you were to ask someone outside the church how they recognize someone as a Christian, what do you think they would say? I know, because I recently asked quite a few people (some Christian and some non-Christian) "What is a Christian?"

Lots of Christians may be pleased with the responses I received. Most everyone answered that a Christian was someone who didn't smoke, didn't drink, didn't curse, etc. Basically people have begun to identify Christians by what we dont do.

Does that bother anyone else?

Somewhere along the line Christians stopped being identified by what we do do, and started being identified by the things that we abstain from. As usual, I have a theory about this.

The early church wasn't nearly as concerned with personal lifestyle boundaries as they were about going outside the church and winning souls for Christ. And wouldn't you know it, the greatest growth in the history of the Church occurred during a time when most "congregations" didn't even have a building to meet in! The Church was a missional entity, whose sole purpose was to expand the Kingdom. That was the primary goal of the church.

As a Church today, we still think that sounds good and we even claim it as our goal- but how realistic is that claim? It seems to me that as Christians we have become MUCH more concerned with making sure we stay within the boundaries of the Law than we are with going out and making a difference in our communities. What's the purpose?

Great! You don't drink, smoke, or curse... but tell me, what DO you do? Imagine standing before the great throne of judgment, and having God himself tell you to present your case for entry into the Kingdom of Heaven. You reply, "Well God, you're going to be very impressed! I didn't work on Sundays. I didn't curse. I didn't drink. I didn't smoke or do drugs. I wasn't mean to people." I imagine that God would respond with the top line of this paragraph: " OK, but what did you actually do for me?"

I believe we have made the mistake of creating our own little Christian subculture. We become a Christian and then eventually move our entire lives into this "bubble" of the Christian subculture. Our friends from church become our closest (and sometimes only) friends that we spend time with. We spend all of our free time at church events with other Christians. We wear Christian t-shirts and listen to Christian music. Our cars are peppered with metallic fish and bumpers with pithy Christian sayings on them. We withdraw ourselves from the culture around us and become enveloped in our Christian subculture.

Is this the example that Jesus gave us? In the fifteenth chapter of Luke, we read that the Pharisees grumbling that "this man receives sinners, and eats with them." Where we seem to be content with sitting in the church waiting for the lost to enter, Christ seemed to be more enamored with becoming a part of the culture and ministering to people where they are. He ate with sinners! He went to feasts and even wedding with (gasp) drinking! But it is in those settings that we read about some of the greatest moments in his ministry. We seem to be too disgusted with the world around us to enter into with anything but disdain. Christ entered into the culture around him with the love of the Father.

In the church, we make huge deals of mission trips. Why is that? Because it's one of the only times of the year that we actually do Christian service outside of the church walls! This is what bothers me.

On Sunday mornings before church, ESPN usually airs "outdoorsy" type shows. I love watching the old men do flyfishing, because they do not fish from the bank, a boat, or a pier. These guys stand out in the middle of the lake and fish with water coming up to their waists. That's the kind of church we should be! We can't keep fishing from the bank! We need to be as Christ and get out in the middle of the lake if we want to do some real fishing.

I've probably written too much to even understand what my original point was, but here is my wish for the Church. That we reorganize ourselves in such a way that when people are asked what a Christian is, they start listing the good that we do in the world instead of listing everything that we don't do. Secondly, let's break out of our Christian subculture every now and then and associate ourselves with those that need Christ the most. Remember the words of Christ from Matthew chapter nine- "It is not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick..."