There's an old Vaudevillian expression that refers to what has become known as the litmus test for determining the success of a musical or theatrical show. Though I have no idea who it was that made it the standard that would forever be used for determining the potential success of a thing...ANY thing...this expression, a question so often asked in order to monitor public acceptance is, "Will it play in Peoria?" The reference there is that Peoria, Illinois is the run-of-the-mill, All-American place situated in America's heartland and, if the folks there approve of your show, the rest of the nation would generally follow. True or not, that's the expression and it's often used in many other instances having nothing to do with show business. That being said, let's apply it to Christianity. More specifically, let's apply it to YOUR church. HOW THE WEST WAS DUPED As Christian people, affiliated with the Western Church, our tendancy is to think that we have the corner on truth; that we are fortunate enough to be "sitting under the spout where God's glory pours out." The fact is...and it IS a fact - 80% of Christendom is NOT of the Western variety. It is CERTAINLY not of the American variety. No, we are a mere 20% of everything that's referred to as being "Christian" on all of planet Earth. Yet, we persist in believing that we - specifically, our particular Christian group - is making the greatest impact on the planet as we sit there in our pews, downright professional in our ability to sing the songs, pray the prayers, and locate the verses in record time, just as we have been trained. All the while, our Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are in danger of losing their lives, literally dying to serve Jesus, while we pass the plate to raise money for new playground equipment or buy another gargoyle for the cathedral. I remember the first time I ever gave our 3rd world brethren a second thought. It happened when I was reading an old issue of Voice of the Martyrs magazine. As I thumbed through its pages, it hit me that the modes of baptism we Westerners have the time to argue about did not seem to matter to the pastor whose congregation lined up at his jail cell so that he could make a small cross on the foreheads with his own saliva through his cell bars. I recall asking myself how long we American Christains would argue about whether or not it was acceptable that the Saints behind the Iron Curtain were practicing "self-baptism" so as not to incriminate their church leaders. "That's not Scriptural!" some Americans might be heard to holler in protest. Give me a break, brothers. Many years ago, as I warmed the pew of a Word of Faith church, I asked myself if the "blab it and grab it gospel" we were being taught would be acceptable in, let's say, Sudan. I can hear the dialogue now between the preacher and a frail Sudanese Christian man: Preacher: "March around that Caddy seven times, brothers and God will bless..." Sudanese Chrsitian: "Excuse me, please...what's a Caddy? By the way, can I grab a handful of that communion bread there? My family is starving. And that baptismal pool there...when you're through with it, may I have the water?" THE CHURCH...OR SOMETHING ELSE? How about YOUR particular church? There are three types of doctrine referred to in Scripture - that of man, that of devils and that of Christ. Which is it that YOUR denomination is feeding you each week that others could not possibly fathom in some far away land? Are those who make up your "tribe" being taught the doctrine of Christ at all, or are they learning nothing more than the doctrine of man or of demons? Are the things they're being taught actually distancing them FROM Jesus in an effort for the denomination to pad its Annual Report? Do the guys at headquarters really seem to care about the making of disciples? I once heard a very wise old Church of Christ preacher, while speaking at something called a Unity Conference which I was privileged to speak at, who said, in essence: "Pastors, don't assume that everyone who attends your church has embraced the doctrine of the denomination or thinks just like you do about everything in Scripture. With that in mind, why not encourage your people to fellowship with others outside of your denomination? What are you afraid of anyway? The world will look on in wonder." While we imperialistic Americans sit smuggly in our air-conditioned church buildings thinking ourselves to be the epitome of Christianity, we are but the very model of a modern major catastrophe. With so many American churches closing their doors annually (3800+), with so many Christian soldiers going AWOL weekly in the West (53,000), with church scandals making headlines almost nightly, our denominations are little more than the laughing stock of Hell as we bicker like Cain and Abel, striving to prove to ourselves that WE are God's favored sons. In most cases, we've learned to do little more than to sit and listen to sermons for long periods of time without resting. We've mastered religiosity and failed at genuine relationship with God. We've got lifeless ceremonialism down to an art while we ignore the the One who is Life itself. We pay far more attention to the Institution than we do to the Incarnation. What we have established, far and wide and with too few exceptions, is little more than Christless Christianity. Friends, we must ask ourselves if what we're calling "church" these days bears any semblance at all to the stuff of Acts 16:40, Romans 16:5, Colossians 4:15, etc., the only examples that anybody on the face of the planet - any untrained follower and lover of Jesus - can easily duplicate from person to person, house to house, and if that which IS being taught in your neck of the woods bears any semblance to that which was taught by the Teacher Himself. In short, if it won't play in Peoria, it may have been fashioned in Hell. |
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