I’m done with playing church

by Lorie Newman

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I’m done… with the plastic smiles

I’m done… with Christians who walk into church like they are walking into a Country Club

I’m done… with Christians pretending they are perfect

I’m done… with churches saying “that’s the way we’ve always done it”

I’m done… with Christians who say healing services in these modern days are fake

I’m done… with Christians who avoid fasting

I’m done… with people who sit in church waiting for the pastor to “bless” them

I’m done… with those who think pre-schoolers are too small to learn about Jesus

I’m done… with Christians who mock pastors that cast out demons in the name of Jesus

I’m done… with Christians who complain about their church but have never given a dime to God’s kingdom

I’m done… with people who stand and cheer at football games on Friday nights but walk into church like they are at a funeral

I’m done… with Christians who can sing Madonna’s latest hit but can’t recite the 10 commandments

I’m done… with Christian fathers who push their sons to play football, but have never taught them to read the bible

I’m done… with Christians who go into deep debt to “keep up with the Jones’” who sit next to them in Sunday School

I’m done… with fake “Christian-ese” on men’s lips

I’m done… with deacons who complain about an unsaved teenager wearing a ball cap into the sanctuary

I’m done… with Sunday morning being the most segregated hour of the week

I’m done… with Christians who think they are better because their skin is white

I’m done… with Christians who think organs are holy and drums are not

I’m done… with Christians who say “I’m fine” when really their marriage is in shambles

I’m done… with people who think their past should be a secret, lest they be judged by the church

I’m done… with churches who think worship is for Sunday morning

I’m done… with Christians who have swallowed the lie that we can and should control how many children God gives to us

I’m done… with Christians who don’t believe in supernatural healing

I’m done… with Christians who don’t believe in the unseen warfare all around us

I’m done… with Christians who believe miracles only happened in the bible

I’m done… with Christians who call on God like He’s a cosmic genie in a bottle

I’m done… with American Christians who think somehow they have attained all they have

I’m done… with this “little religion box” that some Christians have put Jesus into

I’m done… with the limits that most churches put on God’s power

I’m truly done… no more limits… no more boundaries… no more plastic people… no more playing church… I’m done. Jesus did not die so His people could play church and be comfortable. How long will we “play church” while there are lost souls to win, hungry orphans to feed, hurting widows to love, lonely hearts to mend, and broken lives to heal? There is no limit to God’s power displayed through His people if we could just stop playing church and start being the church!

Note from Lorie:

How can I write such harsh words about “plastic people” in the church? Because I was a pro at it… I was the Queen of “Playing Church”… I was the one who walked into church like I had it all together… I was the one who worked so hard at putting on a plastic smile… I was the one who mocked pastors who cast out demons… I was the one haunted by my past and supressed it for fear that someone might find out… I was the one who wore the plastic mask every Sunday so no one would see that I wasn’t perfect…I was the one living a lie… I was a Modern Day Pharisee…I was the selfish one living in a box of “Content Christianity” My life wasn’t a fragrant sacrifice, (Rom 12:1), it was blatant rebellion to everything Christ came to seek and save the hurting, the broken, the downcast, the servant, the oppressed, the outcast. I had pitched my tent in the “land of the blessed” and thought I had somehow earned all I had.

But God showed me years ago that the mask I wore made me no better than the Pharisees who looked down their noses at the poor, the orphaned, the widowed and the oppressed. They looked down their noses at anyone who was not “perfect” and “holy” like they were.

Today, I can’t wear that mask of contentment, nor that mask of perfection like a modern day Pharisee… I’ve nailed it to the crossAnd what a burden was lifted when I did! I’ll never go back b/c I’ve tasted what being real feels like. But now, as my life is poured out as a fragrant sacrifice, my heart aches for the people of God to stop playing church, as I did for so long, and start being the church as Jesus did. I don’t think if Jesus walked the earth today that we would find Him wearing a pressed tailored suit and tie, holding His big leather bible, and sitting on His favorite pew in church… the way I did for so long. I think we would find Him instead among the poor, the alien, the widowed, the orphaned, the oppressed, the hurting, and the outcast.

This article was not intented to offend, but if it does, so be it… perhaps I’m the only one who has struggled with being plastic and “playing” church instead of “being” the church… perhaps others have not experienced living a lie as I did for so long. If that is the case, praise God!

But as for me, I’m done with playing church… I’m done with the plastic smiles… I’m done with that content box of Christianity that kept me bound for so long… I’m ready to “be” the church and stop playing church… Anyone with me?

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