How about you stop dating the Church? Part 2

Hello bloggers hope you all had an amazing Christmas celebrations. I apologize for the long wait in between this series but here we go with part 2 of church...Enjoy and be bless.

Praise God Christmas this year fell on a Sunday. To me every Sunday is pretty much exciting  because I always know I am going in for something. As a person who tend to be overly attentive to details around me I was expecting the church to be overfilled today since it was a Christmas Sunday morning and was a little disappointed when I found myself running late. I was piss that the church was going to be packed with church daters, you know the ones who attend services at most 3/4 times a year meaning Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving and New year service. Its amazing how many people fall in that categories in this era.

I had a friend, lets call her Jane. Jane and I have been friend for a very long time and for the last year she has been attending two churches. One in the morning and another in the afternoon. She love church one because of the people although she does not understand the language they spoke. Church two she also love because in there she can actually understand the sermon and see areas in which she can apply them. This is what we call church dating because ms. Jane was not committed to any particular local church. Today there are many Jane roaming about and the most common excuse I hear is "Oh I love their praise sessions but the sermons are so dry so I go to Church #2 when I really want to hear a good sermon."  According to Joshua Harris, it is very easy to spot church daters in three manner.

1.  The individual's attitude toward the church is me-centered. What can I gain/get from this church? I'm a really broke college student and have no money to pay for school, can the church pay for me? I really need this miracle/deliverance do they have that there? What activities/social events do they have? Everything about this individual's motive is what will I really get out of my waking up on a lovely Sunday morning when I could be sleeping indoor like others. 

2. This individual is very Independent. You know the "I'm riding solo ones." They come to church because they probably grew up doing the same every Sunday and it has become a ritual. Going to church on Sunday morning becomes one of the things that Christians are "suppose" to do and so the individual just flow with the motion. They are the last set to come in just right when the praise session is over and first set to leave before the Pastor makes the alter call.  They do not want anything to do with been committed to the church or being a part of the church service unit. connecting to people/members of the church is definitely a NO NO after all "I don't need people checking up on everything that I do."

3.  This individual is Critical. This individual basically comes in with the mindset that their must be fault in the church. They are very quick to find fault in a Church and will not be satisfy until they find something wrong with the church. You know the mentality of this is too good to be true so I'm not getting out of this until I find what is wrong.  They are always on the look out for the next church and they sit not too far from the exit door at all.

I am sure you have met at least one of this individual before. If this might be you I beg of you that you reconsidered your decisions before going to church next time. If you do not fall in this categories of "Church daters" Praise God for that, and I would suppose my next question for you would be how committed are you to your local church?

 what is a local church? While I was thinking about this thought and the right definition to use I came across Mark Driscoll's definition where he said "The local church is a community of regenerated believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord. In obedience to Scripture they organize under qualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, observe the biblical sacraments of baptism and communion, are unified by the Spirit, are disciplined for holiness, and scatter to fulfill the great commandment and the great commission as missionaries to the world for God’s glory and their joy."

Now there is the local church and the  universal church which is the entire body of Christ all over the world. The local church is within our community and it is definitely important to Identify your local church and be committed to it.

Now let's do a little rewind back to church dating. The first time I heard about Church dating I was almost confuse because I thought I was in that situation. When I was in school I was as committed to my church as well as my campus ministry, bible study group and prayer group.  At the time I thought was I church dating? This brings me back to the categories of people who claim not to go to church because they are part of other group like campus ministry/prayer groups. Certainly there are different protocols in a Church than the other group.  A Church is much more than your campus ministries,  It is more than a group of Christians coming together for words of encouragement, it is more than listening to preachings  online or tv, it is much more than praying/studying the bible with a couple of people over a conference call. Yes you find fellowship in those gatherings but none of those groups can substitute for that local church.  


This post have grown quite long so I shall rest my fingers here for now, however check back soon to find out How to choose/what to look for in a local church.


Do have a lovely week guys and Happy New Year in advance


Muah
YSU