Pilgrim Soldier

As I was catching up with some online reading the following caught my imagination.

We live in a culture that has the name of Christ on its lips but that does not know what it means to live a life of radical discipleship - people are unaware that the virtues of consumerism and the virtues of faith in Christ are quite opposed to one another.
read more here

Although I couldn’t put it quite as eloquently as this, its something I’ve felt for a long time now. I know I’m a victim of this in my own way as I love gadgets, and recently succumbed to the temptation to buy an iPod Touch. I didn’t really need it, but even so I did!

Consumerism and materialism are all pervasive these days. It is almost impossible to read a paper or watch the TV without having the senses assaulted by advert after advert, usually offering things we don’t really need for amounts we can’t really afford. They are fuelling the incredible amount of debt that is being racked up day after day, and which causes so much concern to so many people.

This is having a knock on effect within Christianity as well. Many of the people I meet within the local area are not attending their own local church. They are commuting to the church that best suits their personal needs and freely confess that they’ve moved church numerous times to fit the needs they have at the moment. I’ve been part of that process myself in the past, passing numerous corps to get to the one that I was going to enjoy most, rather than attending the one that was nearest to where I was living.

Without a doubt this is an extremely consumerist and individualistic approach to our church-going. What is wrong with going to the church nearest to our place of living? How are we going to reach out to the communities which our churches are placed in if Christians who live within those communities travel away from them to the more popular or, dare I say it, trendy churches?