Consumer Mindset

One of the greater dangers to honoring preferences when we are considering switching churches is that it give us a consumer mindset within the Body of Christ rather than a Servant Mindset.

The Church on Earth is a servant Incarnation.  We come to serve (and worship – hence the name) … and constantly being obsessed with how well we are being served often puts us at odds with being obsessed with how we serve.

The Gates of Hell will not stand.

Character Flaws

Plus, when prioritizing your own personal preferences, how can you be sure that you aren’t just rewarding your character flaws?  Are you just stubborn, inflexible, prideful?

I think often, getting the chance to submit to the priorities of others and of leaders is a good way to grow and improve in regard to your own character, and to reveal character flaws.

I recently made a change within the structure of the church in which instead of hiring someone to set-up and take-down after each event, we ask the groups using the equipment (even if it is the entire church on Sunday) to do that.   This applied to every ministry within the church, outside groups making use of the church, etc.

I am not sure that we will necessarily stick with this format forever, but I will tell you, it has revealed the heart of entitlement and the desire to come, not to serve, but to be served.

Sometimes, community is as good as wilderness for revealing our flaws and foibles.

Conclusions

I do think there are appropriate times to switch churches.

Some final thoughts to take into consideration are:

How frail are you (or your family)? – can you serve when serving isn’t easy, can you worship under almost any conditions, can you learn from almost any teacher?

If you are firm in your faith, you can probably learn almost anywhere and from anyone.  However, if you are not – or if you have children being taught – you probably need to be more careful about what messages you are hearing.

That being said, make sure you are growing less fragile in your faith as well, so that you can serve under less-than-ideal circumstances.

I think leaving a church is a careful and sober decision, but also one filled with grace and faith as we seek and strive to follow the teachings of God about church.

Feel free to respond if you have made it through this series of articles (I am impressed) and let me know if there are any other aspects of these decisions that I need to add to this conversation.

and may I end with a thought from someone must more intelligent and thoughtful than I am.  Here is an important consideration to make before making that change:

“If my sinfulness appears to me to be in any way smaller or less detestable in comparison with the sins of others, I am still not recognizing my sinfulness at all. … How can I possibly serve another person in unfeigned humility if I seriously regard his sinfulness as worse than my own?”

― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community

… did it – in only 10 parts!  I pray this has been valuable.  I would sure love to get feedback on any of these!