An Un-Truth I Learned From the Church

3 min. read

This might ruffle some feathers, but here we go …

The church has taught me that to be the church means to be “attractional”. Authentic Christ-followers should, indeed, lead irresistible lives. But this is not the idiom of attraction I learned.

The Un-Truth

Apparently, the church is most effective when it attracts not-yet believers to its gatherings. I learned this from Vacation Bible School, youth groups, intramural sports leagues, block parties, fall festivals, harvest celebrations, huge Easter celebrations that require hiring a string section, Easter pageants, revivals, missions weekends, back-to-school parties, special concerts, etc., etc., etc.

The thinking was that the more special the event, the more spectacular the goings on within the church building walls, the more readily not-yet believers would be awed into a pleasing relationship with Jesus.

I learned that a lot of effort goes into these special events. I learned that if we build it, they will come. I learned that Jesus was a great spectacle, a bastion of entertainment, a religious-colored festival. I learned that Jesus was into crowds.

I’ve discovered this is an un-truth.

Not that there is inherently anything wrong with these attractional events. Rather it is when the attractional is the primary organizational focus and main expression of Christian life that problems occur.

Incarnation Is the Truth

As I read from my family scrapbook (Scripture) and as I share life with fellow Christ-followers, I’m convinced that Jesus — and thereby, the gospel — isn’t about an attractional event.

The gospel is about an incarnational life. 

Jesus did occasionally preach / teach to great crowds. Yet, when he plainly extolled the cost of discipleship, the crowds dwindled. Near the end of his public ministry, he was the focus of crowds once again. Yet, this time they killed him.

Jesus’ most effective ministry happened one-on-one and in small groups. Jesus cared about individuals.

Jesus did not ask the thirsty to come to the great big water fountain at the synagogue. Instead, he went to the well that thirsty people frequented and gave a woman living water.

Jesus didn’t have a big potluck in order to feed people’s bellies while feeding their souls. Instead, he gathered with twelve around a small table and gave them his body and blood.

Jesus didn’t build magnificent buildings and point to them saying, “Here I have built my church.” Instead, he called his disciple with the most leadership potential an adversary, then promised to build a community of hope on his shoulders.

Jesus didn’t teach every Sabbath. Instead, he took his disciples with him through a field on the Sabbath, picked the grain for breakfast, and lived the gospel right in front of them.

From Attractional to Incarnational

So I ask myself how can the church I serve become more incarnational? It won’t happen with great programs. Nor will it happen by only meeting in the building we mistakenly call “the church” once or twice a week.

But it might happen by remembering that we are now Christ’s body. It might happen by rehearsing what Jesus did. It might happen by sacrificing all our false realities for a gospel that is lived and breathed in our communities.

Redemption begins when un-truths are un-learned. 

Then our hearts of stone are replaced with living hearts. With so much body-talk in Scripture — and a God who inhabited a body like mine — how can I call myself a Christ-follower if I’m not living a mission of incarnation all the time?

The beauty of this redeeming process is that the very church which taught me the un-truth is the church that shows me how to un-learn it and to live differently. For all the church’s flaws, it’s still the church through which God reconciles the world. I choose to be part of the reconciliation.

So Tell Me Something

What’s an un-truth that you’ve learned? And how are you un-learning it?