The Great Pretender

There are times when it seems that the church has hijacked Jesus.  But, then it is not the spiritual community centered on Jesus Christ which has done the deed, but the institutional church which poses as the Great Pretender. The institutional church is concerned about its survival.  It feeds on more.  It has its roots dug deeply into deeper treasuries, bigger buildings, and a success that is measured in much the same way as any thriving business.  The bottom line is not the number of souls saved, or lives radically transformed by the person of the resurrected Christ, but how smoothly the programs operate and the financial report at the end of the year.  The primary business of the institutional church is maintenance and survival.   

The church centered on Jesus seeks to lose itself in the world.  Appearance is not the important issue for a community of faith which seeks to live in the world as seed being dropped in the ground.  It is filled with disciples of Jesus who dream and pray about doing for Jesus what seems humanly impossible.  Its mission is not about maintenance but a mission defined by words such as the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-29 and the Great Missional Mandate found in Matthew 25:31-46 which gives the broken a place alongside of the affluent at the Table of God's Kingdom.   

It is hard for those of us within the church to see the importance of the distinction because we start out with nothing more than our love for Jesus only to be seduced by an institutional church which whispers that what we want to do for Jesus can be done even better and with greater effect if we will buy into the agenda of the Great Pretender.  There is never any big announcement that we have switched horses.  It is all so very subtle.  One day we are all for the community centered on Jesus and the next day, it is all about maintenance of the institution instead of mission.  All the talk about Jesus becomes window dressing.