Tom Davis, author of books like Fields of the Fatherless, Red Letters: Living a Faith that Bleeds, and others, has an article featured on Beliefnet.com today titled, “Why Christians Suck” that you should read HERE.
Tom is not one to mince words. Bringing the vernacular of Jesus’ day to the present he opts for the adjective “sucks” over words such as “whitewashed tombs” or “brood of vipers” used to describe the religious of Jesus’ day. While millions of children are starving and/or orphaned every day many self professed followers of Jesus Christ do nothing. Instead of living the gospel and actually doing what we are called to do as disciples of Christ (i.e. carring for the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized, the widow, the orphan, the homeless, etc) we spend more time caring about our “political views, what sexual preference someone has, or [our] bank account.”
Tom has some strong words for the church today that I think need to be heard. While there is no doubt that many, many Christians around the world do not suck and are doing precisely the sort of things Jesus calls us all to do there are countless more who do not. There are far too many of us who confess Christ as Lord on Sunday and Monday we bow to the altar of our careers, our hobbies, our families, our money, or anything else that will not challenge us to live out the scandalous gospel of Jesus Christ.
You can read more about Tom Davis and his ministries at his blog, HERE. Great article, Tom. Thank you for challenging me to do less talking and more acting.
grace and peace.
Filed under: Theology, books | Tagged: Beliefnet, Christianity, Church, News, Tom Davis
That was a great article.
Davis’ article is a blazing critique of the church. His title, however, is misleading. Instead of being titled “Why Christians Suck,” it ought to be titled “Why American Christians Suck.” As David notes in the article, “Most American Christians do not care about what God says in the Bible.”
The real problem is that the American church, with all its resources, is the stingiest when it comes to giving. Just last week, at a meeting of Methodist pastors in the Durham, it was announced that 50% of pastors do not tithe. 50%! That was a shocking statistic to me.
It seems to me that the reason the American church sucks is because its leaders often suck. The church needs leaders who are willing to capture the vision of the gospel and work to make it a reality in their own lives. Sadly, this is difficult to do in a culture of plenty. Ask others who have been involved with the church in the developing world if there is a giving problem amongst leaders there, and you will most likely get a resounding “No!” We cannot keep beating people on the head about giving and serving when the leaders they look to do not do the same.
Davis’ article is a timely reminder that the contemporary American church is starved for faithful leadership. Thanks for sharing it with us Chad!
Tom –
Amen to that. I agree that it has to start with the leadership of the church.
How is Amy? We get back in town Friday night. Hope you guys are well.
peace,
Chad
Thanks for this truth-filled post. The truth may hurt, but it must be heard. Tom wrote a great article; I especially liked his quotes from James. Perhaps more applicable today than when those words were first written.
Amen, E.D. I agree.
[...] My initial urge was to lash back at them. It would have been easy, since as it seemed to me, their arguments, statements and claims were illogical, and full of holes. But thanks to Jesus and His presence in my life, I resisted the temptation. I also found help in a new little phase I came across on another blog: What Would Jesus Have Me Do? (find it here) [...]
One of the things Dallas Willard talks about is that non-discipleship become so common-place because it has for quite a while been accepted as normative by church leaders.
Nowadays, when kids join sports teams, they are expected to show up. There is quite a bit of pressure placed on the kids to be present for games — even if they are scheduled Sunday AM and conflict with worship.
Likewise, when teenagers get jobs, it seems as if they are expected to work when needed — typically including Sunday AM.
But is there a similar expectation of church members? For example, when someone joins the Methodist church (or for that matter when we have someone baptized or get married), there is a littany of promises we make before the congregation and more importantly, before God. But the question is: Do church leaders actually expect them to honor the commitments they make? I’m certain they *hope* that people will honor commitments but do they actually *expect* it? And what are we willing to do if they don’t?
Interestingly the Book of Discipline calls for the local church to play a role in helping to keep one another accountable to the vows we make (See Book of Discipline: 2000, page 132, Paragraph 220, #1) — but most of us would cringe at the thought of “intruding in someone’s life” that way.
I’m not saying I know exactly how we should handle the chronic problem of people making vows before God and not following through (there is an argument to be made that it is really between the person and God) but I do wonder if sometimes leaders (and this might mean laypeople in leadership as much or more as it means clergy) are a little too passive in actually expecting them to be followed .
I wrote about this topic in the past. You can access it via my blog if interested. You have to click on the “More of Alan’s Writing” link and then click on “Newsletter Articles” — originally written for my local church setting. The articles from August 2005 and June 2007 address this issue. They are Word files you can download and view.
Alan-
I couldn’t agree more about the passivity of church leaders when it comes to discipleship and holding members accountable for the vows they make.
Part of the problem is that we are so desperate to get numbers that we don’t do any “work” to educate new members and make demands of them in the process. We are just so thrilled that someone would actually wish to join that we drool over them as we bring them to the front to recite their vows. In a way we make them feel as though they are doing us a favor. They feel good like they have just joined a country club or got a new card at Blockbuster.
I was discussing this with friends at annual conference and one thing I have liked for some time now is using different language. Instead of “membership” I prefer “covanent” language – like what Mars Hill uses. I think covanent is, first, more biblical and it has within it an understanding of mutual reciprocity. In our culture these days to be a “member” of an organization generally means that you are the recipient of benefits in exchange for dues paid. Life with God should not be about such things, do you think?
Perhaps we could curb some of these problems if we required people to go through a new members class like confirmation? I know some churches do this but not all. I know I have been lax in doing them myself, choosing rather to meet with them a few times and talk it over. But I wonder if even that is not enough.
I’ll have to check out your blog.
peace,
Chad
Why is “suck” edited like it is? Still too pious to handle, I guess–might offend someone, you know? Don’t want that to happen!
At relevent Christian we had an article like this in March of ‘07. You should have seen Ken and his cronies come running. It was actually funny.
As I see it, some of the problems of the Methodist church are economic. They face many of the same problems as do other businesses. Among them are expensive retirement programs and healthcare costs.
I was told one Methodist church official stated they didn’t want any pastors over 50. Sound like age discrimination?
The pastor of the small Methodist church I go to was defrocked over trumped up balogna. I’m being told there is no recourse and the pastor isn’t even allowed to question the action or defend himself.
If there is no union for pastors, there really needs to be. There are two categories of local pastors, part time and full time. What is the difference? I’m told it is the salary and nothing else.
In a couple of weeks, I’ll be quitting this church, the Methodist church, and organized religion in general.
I haven’t a clue how to fill the gap but hopefully something will present itself.
Hi Bill,
Sorry for the delayed response. I haven’t been around much this past week.
While it is impossible for me to speculate on some of the issues you bring up I do not doubt they are troublesome to you and others. Experience tells me, however, that there is always another side to the story (sometimes 2, 3 or more sides) and I try to make it a practice to withhold judgment.
Health care and retirement is expensive. One great thing about the Methodist church is the committment shown to support its pastors in whatver stage of life they are in. This is proving to be more and more challenging with increased costs in just about every area but I applaude the denominations resolve to make it work. Sometimes this means trying new things and getting creative. The jury is still out.
As for the pastor being defrocked I have never heard of such a thing without recourse or offering a defense. My guess would be this is a sensitive matter and the pastor had plenty of opportunity to appeal and offer a defense but for whatever reason (usually that reason involves protecting the pastor’s reputation or the reputation of those harmed) it is being handled the way it is. Those who are in the loop I am sure are acting prudently and in the best interests of all parties (not necessarily the party of “I’m curious and wanna know the juicey details”). Those groups are often left disappointed in such affairs, and rightfully so.
There are more differences between part time and full time pastors than just salary. But to be brief, there are many small, rural churches (like the one I pastor) that cannot yet affor a full time pastor and the minimum salary that goes with that. Rather than leave those churches without a pastor the Methodist church has a network of local pastors who are licensed to serve that local church. They are usually bi-vocational.
I am sorry to hear you are considering “quitting the church.” If you would like to talk more in depth you may feel free to email me at chad.holtz@duke.edu. The church is not perfect by any means – we are broken humans tied together by God’s grace. Just like a marriage has it’s bumps and bruises at times so does the church. Though we may quit it at times and feel disgusted by our lack of discipleship we can praise God that he never quits us or forsakes us, even when we treat his bride, the church, like a whore (read Hosea! What a great picture of how God stays with us even when the church “sleeps around.”)
Grace and peace, Bill.
Chad
Wouln’t it be more apropos to say “Why hypocrites suck”.
I believe the vast majority of people who call themselves Christians are really quasi-moralists who never made a commitment to serving God. This is but one source of the hypocrisy and it is unfortunate that most of these folks don’t recognize it in themselves. Another, and perhaps even worse source are those congregations who have not listened to Jesus’s admonition “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharasees and Sadducees” (Matt 16:6). Both of these groups purport to be servents of the Most High but in reality have done nothing but pervert the word of God. They have become hypocrites in things common to all man. These hypocrites have forgotten the oath they took to be the “Salt” and the “Light” of the world (Matt 5:13-14). The reality is, Christians don’t suck buy hypocrites do!
R-
Welcome!
That is a good point and I am glad you brought it up. While I would be hesitant to say that a person is not a Christian (in the sense that they are in relationship with Christ and being transformed(slowly, even) into his image) just because they are not more engaged with the oppressed of this world I think it is appropriate to say that many of us are hypocrites, and not just on this issue but on many. I think Davis is trying to say that in a country where over 80% of us claim to be “Christian” than our understading of being Christian really sucks.
peace.
Chad
It’s quite discouraging to read and see that it’s not just my church that is too passive, both in the congregation and in the leadership. Truthfully though, I’m not surprised. The eye of the needle is pretty small for us rich Americans.
I think our passivity comes from being too comfortable and not wanting to lose that. I know because I’ve been there and fall back there pretty easily.
I am in a constant battle with my attitude about our church and our church leadership (or lack of it). It’s easy to get frustrated and talk down the pastor. I do it and I’m wrong for it.
God is sovereign so he has my pastor in a leadership position for a reason. Kind of like David sparing Saul (we just read about this with my kids tonight), I need to respect the leaders God has placed in my life.
However, my passion has been growing. I’ve started interjecting that passion onto the church staff. Fortunately our church is small enough and I’m friends with the staff that I can push, with love.
Passive Christians (assuming a truly saved faith) do have the Holy Spirit. All things are possible for God.
I guess my point is, if you (me, etc.) have a passion, God can use that spark to start a fire, in the local church, in a city, and in the country.
Yea, Christians suck. I often suck. We’re all sinners so we all suck. Let those of us who know this, let God use us to spark a little fire.
Tony
Tony-
I feel your angst. The good news is we are not left alone. I just finished my readings for Surprised by Hope and will be posting the notes to the final chapter tomorrow – in there, as you know, Wright exhorts the church to wake up and be the Church of Jesus Christ – to actually live in the present as though we are resurrection people. I think in many churches it is a matter of bad theology translating to poor and bad leadership. Your church is blessed to have members like yourself who are sensing the tug of the Holy Spirit to shake things up a bit.
I pray God’s blessings (and peace!) on you and your ministry.
Chad -
Update on Moses below. Please pray for us on our trip this week and the possibility looming for the family God has planned for Moses…
P.S. Get your tissue out…
http://www.seekingabove.com/2008/09/back-to-liberia-for-now.html
Tony