Comments on: Welcome to Church, Can I Take Your Order?

By: Valerie

Valerie — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:31:54 +0000

Wow! This is an awesome article! So true… so many Christians today have the attitude of “Ok, I am at church now, minister to me, meet my needs” Not many go in with an attitude of servanthood, saying “who can I minister to here today?” or “How can I help out the ministries of my church?”. But church isn’t your way right away… there will never be a church that will be perfect in your eyes… because church isn’t made up of perfect people, but if it was made up of servants church would be a much better place to go! We can’t always have it our way, so we might as well pray, see where God tells us to be and then be faithful there even if you may not always like everything that is there… if God tells you to be there, you better be faithful to it otherwise you will spend your entire life church hopping and never really being effective anywhere.

By: Glenn Ansley

Glenn Ansley — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:43:28 +0000

Miranda,
Thanks for your comment and testimony. Kristie and I support a child through compassion international as well. It helps to keep us in the right frame of mind.

By: Miranda

Miranda — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 12:16:13 +0000

Hi,
I agree that Americans are overwhelming materialistic. But, there are some who are sacrificing to give what they can, even when they are praying that God would provide for their next month’s bills. Our family is considered low-income in the world’s eyes, but we have been so blessed!!!
We also give to a child via Compassion International, and we are amazed on a consistant basis as to how blessed these children are not in the eyes of most Americans, but when our little girl writes us, she thanks us for giving her money for food… Food that we as Americans would not think twice about buying. And, these kids praise God like you wouldn’t believe!
So, prai6e and thank God today, and let yourself be consumed with Him and Him alone!!!

In Christ, Miranda

By: Curtis Sinclair

Curtis Sinclair — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 17:33:35 +0000

Whilst I may be slightly off-topic here, I must say that alot of the Christian based blogs/sites that I visit often place a large focus on what we, as the body of Christ, aren’t doing or are doing wrong.

After years of being unquenchably materialistic, I now tithe and give offerings faithfully; and I know that this article and the subsequent comments may very well prick the heart of someone that does not, but it would be nice to, at least some of the time, shift the focus to what God is doing, rather than what ‘we’ are not.

God is marvellous, and it would be nice to share our experiences of His wonderful goodness with our fellow brethren across the globe, rather than analyse areas that others are falling down. We all fall down in one area or another.

May God bless you all.

Curtis (from London)

By: Andrew Virts

Andrew Virts — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 16:11:04 +0000

Hands down, this was probably my most favorite article to date. It had a lot of information that I could definitely relate to in my own life and showed me how I can work on it. Thanks!

Andrew

By: HickGirl

HickGirl — Thu, 22 Jul 2004 19:44:48 +0000

I agree with you. We are such a materialistic and consumer society. It is sad to think that we continue this attitude once we become Christians.
I do disagree with what you said after your first set of bullets. I think that it is important to move onto a new church bible study if you are not growing there.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 25 May 2004 17:09:23 +0000

your gay

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 22 May 2004 20:53:36 +0000

That is true.

By: papacarchy

papacarchy — Tue, 16 Sep 2003 19:03:06 +0000

Jeremy –
Its pretty disconcerting as well that so few in US seem to be aware of how deep and pervasive this problem is. It makes me think "I wonder if the Laodician church had a clue they were in trouble?" When the bar gets so low that discipleship is pretty much a precept rather than anything seriously considered – does God just shrug and say — "If they won't go work among the poor I will." Hence the great movement of God's Spirit among the developing world's people – South America, Africa, Asia.

When one lives in a culture as materialistic and obsessed with consuming as ours and she sends her seducing siren song over ever possible imput medium conceiveable – is it possible that most of the church here doesn't know it — because no one looks any different than anyone else. Its hard to know you are screwed up if being screwed up is the norm and being a disciple is so anomolous that the numbers are just too tiny to make a difference — at least for the moment. Actually – in spite of the pessimistic tone of this post — I actually have great hope for the church, and its impact in the world. Mostly this comes from time spent in Brazil, and close connections to what God is doing is Africa. I witnessed ordinary Christians in great numbers who regarded sacrifice and faith that really stretched them as normal Christian life. That is a sign of great hope. I am somewhat pessimistic about the US – but I am here plugging away within my own Christian Community. We are presently moving our congregation into an urban community, preparing to do some pretty risky stuff – for which I am greatly thankful. I am also certain there are pockets of faithful radicals out there who long for the same kind of faithful witness to be the norm for the church rather than the exception. Peace

By: jeremy

jeremy — Tue, 16 Sep 2003 08:06:26 +0000

papacarchy, i think you've hit the nail right on the head! we try to maintain this dichotomy between the self-sacrifice of following Christ and the self-actualization (self-centeredness) of western culture. and this hypocrisy shows up perfectly in our giving–we can't put our money where our mouth is. we honor God with our lips, but our hearts are far from him. if our hearts were close, our money, gifts, and time would be his to use.