I admit I’ve spent a lot of time in restaurant drive-thru lines—especially when I was a single adult many years ago. Sometimes, drive-thru options seem to make the most sense for us. Drive-thru Christianity, though, doesn’t work. Use this list to determine if you might be a “Drive-Thru” Christian:
- You look for the most convenient, least time-consuming way to follow Christ. Why take extra steps and spend extra time growing spiritually and making disciples if you don’t have to?
- Your attendance is sporadic, and you show up for church only when you want or need something. That is, you show up when it’s advantageous – when the church offers you something.
- You choose what you want in a church and then expect others to meet that request. All of us, of course, have general ideas of what we want in a church; here, I’m talking about church member consumers who place their order and expect others to serve them.
- You let others do the work. After all, that’s what a drive-thru is about: others do the work, you get an inexpensive meal, and then you’re on your way.
- Nobody in the church really knows you by name. You’re a “drop-in” face to others, and you don’t give them much opportunity to get to know you.
- Your goal is to get in and out as quickly as possible. You’re not interested in conversations. Relationships aren’t that important to you. You go to church because you know you need to, but you don’t want any strings attached.
- If you don’t like what’s offered at one church, you just go to the drive-thru at another one. In fact, you have a history of church hopping because apparently no one can meet your needs.
What would you add to this list?
8. You are a “tipper” and not a “tiher” – you enjoy consuming the church’s product but not willing to invest in kingdom building.
Good word…
We may write great articles but the folks who need to read them don’t visit our blogs. This prompts me to ask for whom are we writing them–ourselves. It is the same way with preaching. We may preach a great sermon but the folks who need to hear the sermon are not in church. To whom then are we preaching the sermon–ourselves? Something to think about.
Dear Robin,
There are 18 % of our the US population are Christians disconnected from the church. Research shows that they are always looking to find a fit. It is actually easy to reach them by advertising age, life style and gender so people know there are people like themselves in a particular church. Does this answer your question Robin, my email is nightonthetown2002@yahoo.com if you need more explanation?
Charles, I think that you misunderstood what I was saying. My point was people are not hearing what we are writing or preaching because they do not read our blogs or attend our churches. I was not talking about connecting churchgoers with a church that is a good fit for them. What we are seeing is a decline in interest in churchgoing and an accompanying decline in church attendance and an increase in church closures. It is a problem that cannot be resolved by matching those who identify themselves as Christian but do not attend a church with a desirable regularity with the right church by demographics. Better marketing is not going to arrest the decline in church attendance or the increase in church closures. The problem is complex and, while exhorting those attend church infrequently to attend church more regularly and drawing to their attention to the importance of church attendance to their spiritual wellbeing may be helpful in some cases, it is not going to accomplish anything if the people that we are seeking to reach do not read our blogs or attend our churches.
Thanks for sharing, Chuck. Your subscription list may be comprised of mostly pastors and consultants, but this post is still useful. It is a thought-provoking word we can share with others. Like the parent whose child excitedly reports what their teacher said and it is the same thing the parent has been saying for years, sometimes it is helpful for church members to hear someone else say what they have been trying to convey.
Man, is this article on target! I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve heard people complain, “My needs aren’t being met.” Jesus said He came not to be served, but to serve. Alas, many people who claim to be His followers want it the other way around.