…or “life sucking leaches.” 
So many Christians in America have this consumer mentality about church. They think the pastor and staff should do all the work. There is a BIG PROBLEM here–church is never modeled this way in the Bible.
One time a guy told me, “I just can’t go to a church if I don’t have a personal relationship with the pastor there.” That is ridiculous. Why? Begin rant…
FIRST, the church is NOT about the pastor. Your desire when attending a church should be to get closer to Jesus, not the pastor.
SECOND, it isn’t the pastor’s job to have a personal relationship with everyone in the church. Acts chapter six shows us clearly that needs in the church need to be met by the people in the church! That’s the biblical model…hence, we have our Connection Groups.
According to Scripture the body ministers to the body.But churches tend to do it more like this: they hire a young buck ready to charge the gates of hell for Jesus and have him do everything…literally. He is responsible for unlocking the church, visiting the sick, going to every meeting, preaching, handling needy families, praying for you when you have to put your pet kitty cat to sleep, etc etc etc. When he complains they remind him that they pay him well and take care of him and that it is all for Jesus…
That’s why the national average stay for a pastor is less than two years. That’s terrible. And when he burns out and leaves, the church falls apart. People get mad and leave; then utter chaos ensues. And its all because they depended on one man to meet their needs rather than doing what the Bible teaches.
So at The Connection Church, we teach that everyone needs to be involved. Did you know that you have a unique SHAPE (spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, experiences) that nobody else has? Being a mature Christian means that you actually do something with that SHAPE.
Don’t be a consumeristic Christian. Get out there and serve. Today is the day to start. When you die and go to Heaven God is going to ask you “what did you do with the SHAPE that I gave you?” Trust me, you will want to be able to answer that you used it as much as you could to help people meet Jesus.
