Is It Time For A Change?

By Linda Sedrick Pearson

I stopped going to man-made churches. Hear me out before you condemn me and I will explain to you the reason I made this decision.

The first thing that happens when I walk in the door of a man-made church is that someone greets me. This is not bad and I enjoy being greeting and sharing with my brothers and sisters in the Lord. Then, Greeter, who issued such a warm greeting and made me feel welcome, ruins my morning. I am sure Greeter does not intend for this to happen and maybe does not even give a thought to what he (or she) did. He hands me a pamphlet. Inside that pamphlet is a schedule of the morning. At certain times throughout the morning certain things will be done in a certain order.

I look over the schedule and wonder—where is God’s time in this schedule? I immediately feel bound (tied up). If I want to pray for ten minutes, instead of the allotted five minutes, I will miss some of the services because the schedule will move on without me. I am supposed to sign-in with God, say my prayers, and sign-off within five minutes.

After the “prayer” the congregation sings three songs, no more and no less. It has to be three. Those three songs have been chosen at least a week in advance (so the titles can be printed in the schedule). The songs match the Sunday School lesson and the pastor’s message for the day.

What happens if the Holy Spirit convinces someone to accept the Lord that morning during the “prayer” or singing? Well, that person had better get up and get to the altar (if there is one) within the time allotted or they will have to wait until the next service or whenever. It is as if the schedule is saying:

"Sorry, Sinner. You are bound for hell because we can’t interrupt the schedule. We don’t have time for you to delay your decision. We don’t have time for the Holy Spirit to finish His calling you and for you to decide to accept that call. You will just have to wait until the next opportunity and you had better pray that nothing happens to you between now and the next time."

The schedule is in charge and it must be obeyed. To do otherwise will throw everything out of order. Everyone knows what and when things must be done there is no time for someone to be talking to God to get their life right. Get with the program (schedule) or you are out of luck.

The next thing that is handed to me is a paper with the pre-printed Sunday School lesson. The Scriptures that will be used are referenced at the top of the page within a 2-4 page pamphlet. After the references are some writer’s interpretation of the meaning of those Scriptures. Of course, this has been written a year in advance in order to get it printed and delivered to the customers (the “churches”). The Scriptures don’t go in order, but skip around from chapter to chapter because it is apparently bad manners to study the Bible verse by verse. The skipped verses don’t match the writer’s thought processes, so they are “thrown away.” If one were to include those verses, it would throw the schedule off because there is not enough time allotted for those verses.

The leader stands in front of the class, reads through the Scriptures, and then asks for comments. I wait and the silence becomes overwhelming. Being who I am, I begin speaking what God has laid on my heart about the verses that we are read hoping to get some discussion going. I like to hear others viewpoints about scriptures and see what God has revealed to someone else. My viewpoint, although it reinforces the writer’s viewpoint, is a little different. "Leader" looks confused, embarrassed, and then gets angry with me because my comments are not drawn from the pre-printed text of the Sunday School lesson pamphlet. Instead, I did some thinking for myself and listened to the Holy Spirit teaching me about these verses. I apologize to the class, explaining that I am agreeing with the writer and am just wording it differently. Not wanting to bring discord, I stop speaking and pray to God for the schedule to hurry up so I can get out of there. I don’t feel I did anything wrong. I voiced what God laid on my heart and spirit. Apparently, God forgot to check the schedule before giving me these insights to share. I only wanted to use the mind and heart that God gave me, to think through the Scriptures that God gave us, and to learn how to apply those to my life.

After Leader has been soothed, the class ends and everyone is “herded” back out for choir singing, special singing, a short prayer, and the preacher’s sermon. During the preaching, the pastor keeps looking at his watch (or a clock at the back of the room). He has been given orders by “Schedule” to end his sermon by a certain time so everyone gets out in time for lunch. The sermon ends, with or without an “altar call.” The service is closed and everyone goes home (or wherever they usually hang out on Sunday afternoon).

The above are the reasons why I quit going to man-made churches. I have tried different churches, different denominations, different towns and they all seem to be the same. At least they have that much in common.

Does this description of a man-made church service sound familiar to you? If so, please print this out and distribute it to your fellow “church” members. Maybe it will make everyone think about what has happened to our “churches.” Maybe some will all decide it is time for a change. Maybe it is time to get back to the Bible and throw away the pre-printed literature. Maybe it is time to throw away the schedules and let God lead. All I ask is that you think about it.

If you think I am wrong, then don’t do anything. Just continue with your schedule and your pre-printed literature. Continue with the way you have been doing things in your church, if you feel you are right. Don’t change a thing.

God bless you in your endeavors and I pray that God will bless me in mine (oops, there isn’t time for that in the schedule).

© 2005 Linda Sedrick Pearson