I’ve been thinking, and have been challenged lately, by how individualism has crept into our everyday. This isn’t some kind of new thinking of course but I feel more alarmed by how it has moved into the church and our faith thinking.

Specifically, I have noticed how we have taken concepts that we find in scripture and have slightly altered them so that they have become things that we don’t really find in the Bible. The problem is we don’t realise that we have changed them. Most of them aren’t that bad on the surface, in fact some will lead to good things, but I worry about what they might be building in our hearts.

I’m not sure if I’m making sense yet.

Let me give you a few phrases/concepts, with a short explanation, that I have noticed which highlight this creep. I want to make it clear I am guilty of using ALL of these phrases!

• Personal discipleship – this is not a phrase we see expressed anywhere in the scripture. The pursuit of following Jesus was thought of as a corporate, community, thing. Of course there is an understanding that we personally grow as we grow together and of course its important that we take responsibility for our relationship with Jesus but we must be careful of the implications of this. The potential problem here is that we make following Jesus about our own personal preferences. Because it is our own ‘personal’ discipleship then the logic would follow that if there is anything that we don’t ‘personally’ like or agree with then we can reject it. We can choose our favourite teaching, worship, people, projects and theologies and before we know it there is nothing to challenge us to more.
• Invite Jesus in – this is a phrase I have used often! Just like the others in this list it is not wrong depending on the intention but the implication is troubling. It suggests that we are ones in control and we give God permission to move whenever we feel ready. God of course doesn’t force us into relationship, He asks us to choose, but we must never forget that this choice is to enter into His story. He is the one in control, He is the one who created and sustains the world.
• What’s my purpose? Everyone wants to make a difference with their lives and this of course is a good thing. Or to be more accurate, this CAN be a good thing. The Lord has called us to be ambassadors to Him. He commissions us to disciple nations. He asks as to steward and multiply all that He has made available to us. Its clear that we are called to ‘do’ things because of the call on our lives. However we need to remember that ‘our’ purpose can never be separated from ‘His’ purpose. What He has called us to comes out of His mission, and therefore is not strictly about us, but about Him. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28.
• Pastoral care – In the country I have grown up in, pastors are rated on how ‘good a visitor’ they are. You can get away with bad sermons and a lack of vision by simply turning up at peoples houses and drinking tea. Like the other points listed in this post its not like this practise is inherently evil, its just that we can come to expect being looked after by other people. In many occasions this has meant that we have abdicated our own personal responsibility in these moments. When we are facing difficult moments or simply plodding through life we can get offended that no one has checked in on us or helped us. Entitlement begins to grow in our heart and we question whether this church are the right people for us. We wonder if we’d be better looked after elsewhere, and before you know it we have made ourselves the centre of the universe. Of course looking after one another is a good thing, it’s part of what the Lord calls us to do, but let’s not turn it inward.
• How do I get connected? One of the first questions a newcomer asks when they come to church. It’s also one of the things that churches have on their website – “How can you get connected?” Is it wrong to be connected or help people do that? No, but the question straight away makes us the centre again. It tells us that our connection is the most important thing and that everyone else needs to work to ensure we are connected. The reality is we are meant to be a part of connection, we are mean to initiate connection and provide it for others. As we do that our own connection is the byproduct. A much better question for us and church websites would be – “how can I/you be a connection for others.” If we would do that we would realise straight away that we have a responsibility to help others connect and at the same time we would find that connection too.
• Did you enjoy the service? – you get the picture by now right? Every time we as this question we are secretly telling them that the service was there to serve them and their comfort/enjoyment is an important gauge to us. That is not the gospel! There is nothing wrong with having a service that engages people and is accessible to all but the goal isn’t comfort or enjoyment – it’s worship! We don’t sing songs for our enjoyment but as an offering. We don’t pray to ease our conscious, we do it to connect with the Saviour. We don’t listen to teaching to learn a wee bit more, we are trying to form our minds further towards the mind of Christ. Enjoyment can absolutely be a by product of that but it can’t be the goal!!

I’m guessing you could add a few more that you have come across. As I’ve already said I don’t believe our heats have been bad when we’ve asked or thought these things – the goal is usually good in my experience but it doesn’t make it the right thing to do.

The church is the bride of Christ, a reflection of Him. Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. He wasn’t self seeking, He didn’t live out his human preference, and He certainly wasn’t self seeking. As the church let’s be careful we don’t turn go against what He modelled to us.