A comfortable church?

[TheArchDuke]

I'm not sure this is in the right section of the forums so feel free to move it around. I wrote this in a different community i'm a part of:


I've heard a lot of Christians, some of them my close friends whom I won't name, say things like, "This church or that one makes me feel uncomfortable when I attend. They make me feel like a bad person" and so on. That's called conviction by the Holy Spirit my friend. And that is a good thing. You can go to a comfortable church if you want and drink coffee while the pastor tells you how good you all are, but I'm telling you right now, that's not the message of Christ. You can attend those churches if you want, but what will you ever learn besides a few witty retorts to use in creation vs. evolution debates? The purpose of learning is to recieve new insight about yourself or the world that you can utilize in someway and make a change for the better. If the teachings at your church don't convict you then you're either perfect, or the church you attend isn't saying the right things. Conviction is good. It causes you to realize your mistakes and to change for the better. A guilty feeling is bad, but that's another discussion. Your pastor shouldn't be making you feel like a good person because you're not; no one is. Of course, after conviction comes comfort from the Holy Spirit Himself. And along with that comes the strength to change. Then comes the next conviction, correction and comfort over and over until we are with Christ in paradise; perfected, glorified.

[TheArchDuke]

Oh yeah, the coffee comment was kind of an inside joke among the people I wrote this for. There's a church in this area that I attend sometimes that we nicknamed the coffee church because that is one of the main attractions there. Nothing against coffee perspnally

[rgrove]

This reminds me of the statement "What you've won people with is what you've won people to". If a church is "winning" people to Christ with the gospel then there is a far greater likelihood that they're genuinely converted and will not fall away from the faith. If a church is "winning" them through programs, good coffee, etc then as soon as the waters in their lives get stormy they will assuredly fall away (or they'll just move to another church with better programs, coffee, etc).

Yours In Christ,
Ron

[melinky]

My first thought was that I'm one of those seeking a comfortable church, that I must be comfortable in the environment to be able to simply be still and know that He is God. Though my church does sell coffee and donuts between services (it's a great fund-raiser for missions), what I seek in a church is a connection with God, some kind of movement within my heart and soul. Perhaps others who speak of comfort are looking for the same and just don't know how to express it.

I have run across people who seek justification for themselves in the name of God by pointing out the iniquities and sinful natures of others. This is not, in my mind, the "conviction of the Holy Spirit." I don't believe that accepting Christ has to be a slap in the face; for some of us it has to be a gradual change. I swore when I started attending church that I was NOT going to change and become "one of those Bible-thumpers", I would remain the same person I had always been. But guess what? I changed in ways I never would have imagined, so gently and slowly that I only saw it in retrospect. I don't know if I've become a Bible-thumper, but I am an advocate of the Bible and all it says and will remain so until the day I die.

On a final note; just as I needed a slow and gentle molding by our maker, I feel there are others who need the slap in the face, or on the rear, change of rebirth in Christ. I also believe that half of the battle to win people to Christ is simply getting them in the door of the church and if it takes coffee to do that, then I'm all for it. Yes, some of the "coffee-seekers" may move on to better coffee and programs elsewhere, but if even one is genuinely brought to Christ then isn't time to rejoice?

“Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
(Luke 15:3-7, NIV)

Yours in Christ,

Melinda