Churchianity Vs. Christianity I

I'm passionate about Jesus and the gospel message, but I don't fit in the box of churchianity. Much of what people consider to be "Christianity" today is actually churchianity. It's based on tradition, a mix of Western culture (wearing a suit and ladies wearing a hat), morality according to cultural beliefs and local religious beliefs, and a lot of misconceptions. Sometimes, those traditions are all right, but not essential. Sometimes, those traditions lead us directly into disobedience to the commands of scripture, just as the Pharisees broke God's commands for the sake of their tradition.

In my communion with people from many local churches, I often get asked, "What church do you go to?" and "Who is your pastor?" I wrote about these issues last year, but I want to revisit the issue of pastors and my relationship with the body of Christ.

I fully agree about the importance of church leaders and elders, being teachable, being accountable, and being connected to the body of Christ. However, my understanding of what that looks like is so different than what it is in "churchianity" that it's as if we're living in different universes. Our thinking is so different that it takes a lot of time and effort to explain, and few in churchianity have the patience or humility to listen rather than just judging by external standards.

People immersed in churchianity often think something isn't healthy about my relationship with the church. Yet they are looking at superficial standards, not at reality. My relationship with the church may be more involved and healthy than theirs is. Let's look at a few points explaining some differences between how I think and the paradigms of churchianity.

Before continuing, I want to state that I've met several precious pastors who truly cared for God's people and were serving the Lord with all their hearts, even if sometimes within broken and dysfunctional paradigms. I want nothing more than to encourage and strengthen such people. My criticisms of churchianitys' broken paradigms are meant to help, not discourage, anybody who is serving the Lord and truly loves His people. If the shoe fits, wear it! We all need to grow in understanding and in God's grace.

As you read, remember that "pastor" and "shepherd" are the same word in the Bible and in most languages other than English.

Churchianity says sheep need to seek a shepherd. The Bible says the shepherd seeks the sheep.

In Ezekiel 34, God tells Ezekiel to prophesy against the shepherds of Israel who care only for themselves, not for the flock. They eat the curds, clothe themselves with the wool, and slaughter the best animals, but have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, or bound up the injured. They ruled them harshly and brutally.

These shepherds did not bring back the strays or search for the lost, and the sheep were scattered, wandered all over, and became food for wild animals because the shepherds didn't care for them, and nobody searched or looked for them.

Likewise, in the New Testament, Jesus had compassion on the people because they were l;ike sheep without a shepherd, but they had no lack of religious leaders and meetings.

Churchianity sees people whom they think are lost sheep, whether or not they really are, and tells them, "You need to find a shepherd." Yet we see consistently in scripture that the problem of lost sheep is the responsibility of shepherds who have failed to really shepherd them, but rather have abused the flock. Instead of pointing the finger at the sheep, the shepherds in the body of Christ should examine themselves in humility and repent if they have failed to care for God's flock and seek the lost.

Instead of telling people, "You need a shepherd," who don't you BE a shepherd and care for them? You can't "make someone" your pastor, as churchianity imagines. The responsibility is on the shepherds to be pastors, not on the sheep. The problem the Bible highlights is not rebellious sheep, but the lack of true shepherds.

Churchianity Doesn't Understand That Genuine Shepherds Are Sometimes Rare

Just as God couldn't find shepherds who genuinely cared for God's flock in Ezekiel 34, and the religious leaders were not caring for God's flock when Jesus came, the churches of the New Testament also often experienced a lack of true pastors. The apostle Paul said, everyone is seeking their own interest and not those of Jesus Christ and “I have nobody like Timothy who cares for you”

There are still many people called pastors who are seeking their own interests today, and those who are not often have so much work to do that they can't take care of everybody! But Jesus said, “The Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep”

I was recently asked to visit a couple in need. I was going to visit on a Saturday night, but the husband was hospitalized for low blood sugar after not eating for two days. We rescheduled for Sunday morning. Both of them were severely stressed with major health issues and trying circumstances. Their house had been robbed, the cabinets were stripped off the walls, and they stole even the cups so that they were drinking out of little plastic containers. They had no running water, but their neighbor filled a cooler for them. Someone gave them a mattress to put on the floor and a refrigerator. The only food they had in the house was 50 grams of noodles.

I spent several hours there. The husband kept talking on and on about all his problems, lawsuits, situations, and health diagnoses. I listened for quite a while, but then I said, "You've told me what's wrong. Now tell me, "What can Jesus do for you?" He started to tell me how God helped him in the past. And I asked, "What can Jesus do for you in this situation now?" He replied, "He can heal me."

I prayed until all the pain left his body, and it went numb, under anesthesia. His wife was sleeping because she'd been awake for two days, but when she woke up, we prayed for her repeatedly. Most of the pain she was feeling left, and her body got hot with God's power. She still felt a little pain when we finished, but much less, and we believe God was still working.

With only about $40 from donations, we were able to get enough food for them to eat for a few weeks. We bought 7 kilograms of rice, 4 kilograms of beans, more than 3 kilograms of noodles, cooking oil, salt, sugar, 3 kilograms of hot dogs, tomato sauce, toilet paper, a big chicken, toothpaste, tangerines, onions, garlic, mozzarella cheese, lunch meat, mayonnaise, bread, potatoes, soap, and more.

This couple told me they belong to a certain church. It happens to be the biggest in my city and has church plants in other countries. They "had a pastor" according to the paradigms of churchianity. They had someone to tithe to. But where were their pastors when they didn't have food to eat? Where were the true pastors willing to lay down their lives for God's people, or even the true brothers willing to lay down their lives for each other?

Somehow, many people in their church think that their paradigm is healthy, but mine is dysfunctional! People among them are in need, and instead of their "pastors" caring for them, outsiders who feel no need to be called "pastors" are caring for them. The man told me about other people who helped. A politician, not a pastor, paid for his surgery.

PS: We will be at this event this Friday, The Convener, Pastor MOG as he is fondly called is my brother and a very good shepherd in my assessment.
He has a desire to see the sick healed, and for this reason came all the way from Delta State to hold a healing meeting in Lagos.
If you are in need of Spiritual intervention over certain issues, please plan to attend.
Kindly come early, as the meeting will not last all night.
I close vigils by 2 pm at the maximum.

Thank you