The Church, Apostasy, and the Blame Game
Among Christians, there’s a been quite a stir about popular leaders who have recently walked away from the Christian faith. And in a very human form and fashion, our response to a problem is to play the blame game.
“It’s because we idolized people over God!” “It’s because we cared about quantity over quality!” “It’s because we cared about optics over efficacy!” “Air conditioning!” “We’ve stopped preaching THE WORD!”
Not to say that these reasons are wrong, but we should first remind ourselves that apostasy (the abandonment or renunciation of [in this case] a religious belief) is not a modern issue. And it is a decision that can be way more complex than someone’s disinterest in a few worship experiences or preaching styles. Paul’s letters address multiple instances in which leaders of the early church abandoned sound Gospel for a “truth” that resounded more strongly with their own personal experiences and goals.
An exhaustive examination of church history will reveal that after its inception, there has been a constant, peripheral effort to change practice in order to coincide with changing culture. A.W. Tozer noted this when he said “If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.” Not everyone has compromised true faith for cultural familiarity, but the question everyone does attempt to answer in their efforts to stay the course is “Is the Christian faith, the teachings of Christ, the Gospel, whatever you call it, relevant to our lives today?”
To some who get caught up in linguistics, a false dichotomy between “faith” and “relevance” is created (an assumption that the two are opposed to each other), as if faith is not eternally relevant. But if we believe that it is, then the question we should attempt to answer is instead “How can we ensure that our faith is what influences culture, rather than allowing culture to influence our faith?”
Full disclosure, I am a member of a large, multi-site, small-group-based church in the South. We meet in buildings both big and small. We have nice lights, big screens, and comfortable seats. We have specialized ministries and programs. But preeminently, this church has one mission: Christ. I believe that a perpetual assessment of whether what we imperfect, fallible humans are doing aligns with that mission is what allows God to cause this church body to flourish and influence the communities to which we are called.
So, OK! That’s nice, Chioma, but what does your church’s influence have to do with apostasy? Well, all the reasons I first listed in quotes and the descriptions of my church have something in common: they can cause us to lose sight of our only mission, which is to enter into a redemptive relationship with God, to love as God loves, and to build His kingdom. So here’s why I mentioned the Holy Spirit earlier. The Holy Spirit is how we align our thoughts, actions, and plans with God, as the Holy Spirit is God. I believe that the perversion of Truth that leads to apostasy boils down to the absence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in every facet of one’s life (i.e., thoughts, plans, and actions). If our faith and obedience to God allow the Holy Spirit to be present in us, how often do we allow it to be primary in our desires and decisions?
When we blame technology or curated environments for confusing Christians whilst simultaneously moving into an era in which we will all be wholly dependent on technology for activities of daily living, education, work, etc.; how will that equip us to live Spirit-led lives when beyond the walls of the physical church? In this instance we must acknowledge that worship and communion with God is not just about one moment one day a week, but perpetual motions of daily life. Doing away with nice things and fancy worship experiences do not eradicate the root of the issue if the root of the issue is life apart from Spirit. If we are united in faith, the Spirit will be there, whether or not we are united in a candlelit barn or an air-conditioned concert hall. We can rid ourselves of physical distractions but if our thoughts are not in unison with the Spirit, the same issue arises.
That’s why we don’t believe that money is evil; greed is the actual problem. Greed prevents us from having a generous heart like God’s. That self-interest prevents us from loving selflessly like God. When we do not have the Holy Spirit guiding our thoughts and decisions, we are slowly drifting from Truth. CS Lewis wrote “It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
My prayer is that we remain vigilant in asking God to search our hearts as in Psalm 139, so that He will bring us to His saving Truth. I pray that we lean into community when we feel like we are drifting away. I pray that God dismantles the theological and relational schemas we’ve built for ourselves that are not founded and rooted in His truth, so that we can build our lives with God as the cornerstone.
In love and veritas,
Chioma