Army Wives is one of my favorite shows on TV. It gives a very entertaining view of what life could be like for those who are married into the military, the struggles they face trying to boost morale, financial struggles, struggles of being left behind for months running a household alone, struggles of being away from your spouse. Last night's episode, however, portrayed something a bit different.

One of the main characters, incidentally a new mother, is about to be deployed to Iraq. She tells her husband that before she goes, she wants to have her baby daughter christened. As she is self-admittedly "not religious" this request takes her husband, who apparently attends church regularly, by surprise. He is elated and agrees to call his pastor. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised when the pastor arrives to meet with the wife about the christening as he did not waste anytime getting to the heart of her own spiritual health. He even mentioned, shockingly, the importance of having a relationship with Jesus! He didn't do this in a pushy or overbearing way. He simply explained the importance of baptism and the important role that parents have in helping their children grow in their faith. (Side note: I will not get into the fact that infant baptism is an unbiblical practice here, because that is not the point of this blog posting, but it is something of which I am fully aware.) The pastor just asked questions. In fact, the exchange between them went like this.

Pastor: "I am especially eager to hear about your relationship with our Lord."
Joan: "Uh, well, I see, I don't have one actually. As a soldier I have a deep reverence for tradition."
Pastor: "Baptism is more than tradition. It is the cornerstone of our faith."
Joan: "I thought this was about Sarah Elizabeth."
Pastor: "Your daughter will emulate you in walking her own path with Christ. Joan, have you been baptized?"

The scene ends there, but a few minutes later she tells her husband that she felt like she was being interrogated. She said she wanted something more like their wedding where they got to write their own vows and there wasn't so much religion. In fact, as the episode continued, the parents found another church who would perform a dedication of the child. At first, I was excited and surprised they were taking this path, however, then it was explained that the dedication wasn't really about God at all. It was about community.

This didn't surprise me. You see, it fits right into our postmodern culture. People want religion to make them feel good about themselves. They will go to church as long as they don't have to hear anything that questions their goodness. Religion is considered an important part of life, much like being involved in a civic organization. However, hundreds of thousands of people are missing the point. It's not about religion. It's about a relationship with Jesus Christ, exactly what the first pastor on the show said. I don't know why it frustrated me to see the media portray him as being pushy and unreasonable. I should have expected it. But I was so taken aback by his honesty and his mentioning of a relationship with Christ, I was hoping it would turn out differently.

The sad thing is, this character's view is shared by millions of people all across our nation. We are a consumer driven society, and we've transferred that mentality over to our churches. And some churches, in an attempt to grow and some even in an attempt to reach more people for Christ, have fallen right into the trap of consumerism. And it's so easy. We want to measure our success by numbers. We want to measure our success by people's satisfaction with what we offer. It makes sense...from a worldly viewpoint. Not so much from a Godly perspective.

I'm currently reading a book that addresses this challenge facing God's church. It's entitled Franchising McChurch: Feeding the Obsession with Easy Christianity by Thomas White and John M. Yeats. It's a very interesting and thought-provoking read, and I recommend it to anyone involved in church ministry. You can click on the link above to find out more about it.
The authors argue that the church, in an attempt to grow and keep up with an ever-changing society, is or is in danger of falling prey to a McDonald's type mentality. Churches, and the consumers within churches, fall into the trap of measuring their success rates by efficiency, predictability, calculability, and control. While these things can help us understand our effectiveness, relying on one or all of these methods rather than focusing on the Great Commission and the biblical model for the church can quickly draw us from Godly obedience to consumerism.

The quotes below, taken from the book, address the same issues brought up in last night's episode of Army Wives.

"Whatever the spiritual influence, with so many products being offered, the true consumer picks and chooses which product fits his or her given needs during a given moment. With a loss of commitment and no long-term dedication to any institution, the true end of consumer-driven religion is an individual pick-and-choose religion that finds no ties binding one to messy relationships and institutions. p. 141

"The 'happy news' presented at some consumer-driven churches appears to be a magic wand, a talisman, or an additional feature that simply makes living the current life better. For some, God becomes a fairy godmother whom they call upon whenever something new is needed. For others, the gift of God appears to be a bonus offer of eternal fire insurance. So while experiencing all that the world has to offer, they simply add on this 'God thing' to make their experience even better. For others the gospel is like an extra feature on a new car. Although there is nothing wrong with this life and they see no problem that needs fixing, God can enrich the experience and be there just in case He is needed." p. 144

Why we are surprised that this is happening, I don't know. Paul writes to Timothy,

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 2 Timothy 4:1-4

As Christians, as members of THE church, we must be ever vigilant in living our lives in such a way that relationship with Jesus is emphasized over religion. We must be diligent in making sure that our churches are preaching the whole Word of God, not just the parts that make people happy or make life seem easy. Jesus even promised that in this world we would have trouble. We must live free, as servants of God. We must live as those who have hope in the One eternal! We must walk the tight rope of speaking the truth in love, even though the world may see it as judgement. We must be careful to steer clear of judgement that is motivated by self-righteousness but never be afraid of speaking God's truth, for we are promised the God's Word will not come back void.

This is a high order. One that can only be fulfilled through a relationship with Jesus, for we are weak. We will falter, but we must remember the words of our Lord to the apostle Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9