The Scandal of Passive Christianity

Disciples or Spectators?

“Spectator” is not a spiritual gift. It isn’t a calling.

Yet, many church models produce countless passive Christians. Instead of making disciples, they are making spectators.

This isn’t good. It’s scandalous.

Dictionary.com defines scandal as follows:

Scandal in the Church

When people think of a scandal they often think of sex, drugs, and money. Maybe some combination of these things. But not always.

Scandals bring shame. Scandals ruin reputations. Scandals are often accompanied by public outrage.

Unlike the scandals you hear or read about on the Internet, this scandal doesn't center around sex, drugs, or money. It’s operating right under our noses. Most people don’t care or notice.

What is the scandal? It’s passive Christianity.

Passive Christianity

When you enter most church buildings you will find that they are setup like any other place of entertainment. There is a central focus on the stage area (although it may be called something different). People sit in the audience much like they would in any theater, stadium, or concert hall.

From start to finish the service is run by a small percentage of the people. There is little to no expectation of any form of participation from the vast majority beyond standing when the songs start, turning off cell phones when the talk begins, and putting money in the plate when it’s passed.

I understand why we setup our services this way. It makes perfect sense. If we treat church-goers like consumers, then we need to make an efficient way for them to consume our content.

But the church isn’t supposed to be run like the entertainment industry. The church isn’t a business.

The church is the body of Christ.

Every Member Matters

Every member of your physical body is important. It serves a purpose. Don’t think so? Which body parts would you be willing to lose? Are there any parts of your physical body that could disappear and you wouldn’t even notice?

If you woke up tomorrow morning and more than 80% of your physical body was inactive, would you be more likely to rejoice or to panic?

Yet, somehow we’ve built a system of “church” that has a massive percentage of passive Christians. When these passive members leave, sometimes they do so without anyone even noticing.

Instead of active members, they are closer to freeloaders who float from one congregation to the next. The biggest impact is on the budget of that local church because their only measurable participation is in the attendance count and when the offering plate is passed.

Do you see the problem? It’s the budget and attendance that are affected. Not the community. Not the edification of the believers. The budget.

It’s scandalous. It’s not supposed to be this way. The Bible uses a metaphor of a body for a reason. We ignore Christ’s design to our own detriment.

Passive Churches

This isn’t a commentary on mega-churches. It’s a commentary on passive churches.

Passive churches exist in every form you can think of. It applies to every denomination and congregations of every size. It can apply to both home churches and those that have a building.

This is a systemic problem. We’ve built a system of “church” that has drifted from encouraging active participation from every member. Most churches are thrilled to cater to the passive Christian. It’s their core demographic.

Active Churches

The biblical system is much harder. Messier. More difficult to control. Impossible to guarantee identical 1-hour services.

But it’s glorious. It’s glorious because it’s what God designed. Instead of praising the eloquence of our seminary trained pastors or the musical talent of our worship teams we can praise God for using the weak and the small to bring edification to all.

I’m not against leadership. Leadership is biblical. In fact, I wrote a book about the church leadership that God designed. Unfortunately, we’ve substituted a man-made leadership system instead. This man-made leadership model is failing to cultivate and promote a healthy congregation.

A healthy congregation is one where every member knows their function and operates for the building up of the body. A leadership model that fails to cultivate this active participation is doing just that: failing.

Measuring Success in the Church

It is failing despite the attendance numbers. Where does the Bible ever tell us to measure success by our attendance, budgets, and campus square footage? Where is the passage that tells us to make spectators? You won’t find these passages anywhere in Scripture. They don’t exist.

What do we find? The Apostle Paul wrote:

As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:14-16, underline added)

Paul revealed God’s purpose for the church. That purpose includes every member doing its part. It won’t happen unless we recognize and submit to God's design described in Ephesians 4:11-13. I’m passionate about Christ’s model. I wrote a book exploring this God-given design because I want the modern church to restore the fullness of God’s design. The bad news is that we’ve drifted far away. The good news is that we can return to what God has told us.

Spiritual Gifts

Read the spiritual gift lists in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. Survey all the spiritual gift tests that you’d like. Can anyone find the spiritual gift of spectatorship?

Go ahead. I'll wait.

No?

If we don’t find spectators anywhere in Scripture, why do we find congregations filled with spectators everywhere we look today?

Everyone who is in Christ has been gifted supernaturally by God for the edification of the church. If you aren’t using your spiritual gift to edify the church, then the body is lacking something important. The true purpose of these gifts must be understood. (Click the link to read our article on the purpose of spiritual gifts.)

Not all gifts are prominent. Some are behind the scenes. But all are critical to the health of the whole. Passive Christianity suppresses spiritual gifts. The whole body suffers.

Even worse, the passive model spills over into the world.

The Horror of “Professional Christianity”

The passive system has created a culture of professional Christianity. The ones doing ministry are the ones on the stage. The most active thing that many Christians are encouraged to do is to invite people to participate in the pre-planned and meticulously managed services of the professional ministers.

This is shameful. It is anti-biblical. It’s inefficient and ineffective.

How many people do you have in your life that will never go with you to your church building?

How many coworkers do you spend 40+ hours a week with that have never attended one of the identical hour-long weekend service options you invited them to?

How many neighbors do you have that you’ve lived next to for years that never came to any of your outreach events at your church building?

How many family members do you see on holidays who won’t darken the door of your church building because they are hostile or perhaps because they simply live out of town?

If you’re going to reach these people with the gospel, you’re going to need to be an active member of the body of Christ.

Shameful

The truth is that passive Christianity is shameful. You may disagree with me. However, this is not just my opinion. The Apostle Paul said so to the church in Corinth. You can read his assessment for yourself:

“Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.” (1 Corinthians 15:34, underline added)

There were an awful lot of scandalous issues going on in Corinth. Division, lawsuits, sexual immorality. But Paul said that they should be ashamed of themselves because their sin was keeping them for spreading the knowledge of God.

The church exists to spread the knowledge of God.

Notice I didn’t say our church buildings, church programs, or church staff.

The church. All of us. Every member.

We exist to spread the knowledge of God. When anything keeps us from doing so it is sin. It’s shameful. It’s scandalous.

People are perishing in their sins. They are hopeless. They drive by our perfectly manicured church campuses without any genuine knowledge of God. Many of them do so because the Christians in their life have withheld such knowledge. We’ve restricted the mission and excluded them. We’ve handicapped the body. As a result, our ability to reach the world with the good news that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners is hindered.

Be Encouraged!

It doesn't have to be this way. We can reclaim God’s purpose. Doing so won’t be easy. It requires laying down the American dream. It requires denying ourselves and picking up our cross. It requires devotion and accountability to each other.

But, it’s worth it. Jesus is worthy.

Is your church making disciples or spectators?

Get equipped. Obey your King. Glorify your God.