“Churchianity” vs. Christianity
“Churchianity” Christianity
| -Focuses on church (bride draws attention to self) | -Focuses on Christ (bride draws attention to Christ |
| -maximizes on faithful church attendance | -maximizes on being faithful to Christ |
| -looks to be “friendly” (friendliness is shallow) | -strives to be loving (love shows depth in a relationship) |
| -tries to show church attendance to be an evidence of spirituality and faithfulness to God (Hebrews 10:25a) | -shows church attendance for what it is –a way to bring believers together so they can point each other to Christ (all of Hebrews 10:25) |
| -goes to church to worship | -goes to church to point each other to Christ which results in true worship |
| -goes to church to get revived from a week in the world | -goes to church to serve and is therefore encouraged and revived. |
| -uses the church as the central point of all its service | -uses the church as a supply house from God to be used in service outside the church with God as the central point of all of its service |
| -invites and brings people to the church to be saved (the church is a “soul-saving” station) | -reaches others for Christ outside the church and introduces the newly saved into the church (the church is a body of believers continually in “growing pains” to be like Christ, who go out to witness to souls) |
| -thinks it does God a big favor by being faithful to church | -thanks God for being able to be in church as God directs the individual (whether it meets the standards of attendance of others or not) |
| -thinks the more one attends church the more faithful one is to God | -strives to be faithful to God wherever they are, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week |
*It is interesting to note that underground churches with no regular place to meet are often stronger spiritually than the greater majority of churches with a church building and freedom to meet.
Why do people (including Christians) who attend church tend toward “churchianity” instead of Christianity? I do not have the whole answer to that question but I think a lot of it has to do with being accepted by others. People have the need to be accepted by others. Unfortunately, acceptance by others is often conditional, especially when a group has its own areas of priority of importance. That is, as long as one meets certain criteria, that person is acceptable to that group. This conditional acceptance is practiced wherever there are people–whether they profess to be Christians or not. People like to be with people they agree with. They try to stay away from people they don’t agree with.
Christianity is different. A Christian is made acceptable is Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:6). Once a person becomes a Christian, that person is unconditionally accepted in God’s eyes. That person’s actions may not be acceptable in God’s eyes but the person himself/herself is accepted and love lets that person know that he/she is accepted. When people do not realize this, they tend toward “churchianity” to gain the acceptance they desire and need. Hence, the church is, in reality, often little different than the world it opposes. Christianity focuses on Christ, while “churchianity” focuses on getting what self needs, that is, personal acceptance (and maybe personal glory).
Our greater need than acceptance by others is our need to be acceptable in God’s eyes.
That is a question we must individually answer. As we focus on Christ, we will know what is
acceptable in God’s eyes. Christianity and “churchianity” cannot co-exist. We must choose
one or the other.