I have been around the church my entire life and often hear about how people are "church shopping." When asked why they are looking for a new church, the response is often "I just don't feel like I am being fed there!" My question is: "Is it the church's job to feed you?"
The term "church shopping" and being "spiritually fed" stem from the same dynamic: Christian Consumerism. We feel like the church is there for one purpose: to fulfill my needs. But is that why the church exists?
There are certain groups of people who need to be fed: Babies, the Weak and the Injured.
Dianne and I are about to welcome a new baby into our world. For the first stage of his life he will be completely dependent upon us to feed him. We expect this and actually will really enjoy caring for our precious baby in this way. It is completely normal for a baby to need to be fed, but if i had to spoon feed my 15 year old son that would mean something was desperately wrong with his development.
Don't get me wrong, the term "baby" is in no way an insult. All humans begin as babies and all Christians start out as baby Christians. Christians who are new in their faith are actually really fun to be around. I find their zeal, excitement, questions and even immaturity, delightful and refreshing. They are dependent upon the church to feed them in that infant stage. I find their desire to be spiritually spoon fed completely normal and natural.
The weak and injured also depend upon the church to spiritually spoon feed them. This is to be expected. Many times Dianne and I have had to feed our children when they were too sick or hurt to be able to do it themselves. We have done it gladly because of our love for them.
We have also done the same for many weak and injured believers within the church. We did it gladly because of how much we love them. I believe the church should be a place where the spiritually weak, immature and injured can be fed and cared for with grace and love.
But now we come to the heart of the matter.
Should mature healthy Christians expect the church to feed them?
1 Peter 2:2 says "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation."
We will continue our analogy. The older my children get, the more I expect them to feed themselves. It is normal, healthy and natural for them to learn to care for themselves.
The more mature a Christian becomes the less they rely upon the church to feed them and care for their needs.
Don't get me wrong. I am a preacher and work very hard to prepare sermons that lay out a banquet of spiritual food. I want my messages to be encouraging, challenging, and uplifting.
My wife is an amazing cook and she could prepare me the most delicious and nutritious meal I could ever eat, but if that was the only meal I ate each week, I would be in a desperate physical condition!
This is how I began my spiritual journey. I was dependent upon the church and my parents to feed me spiritually. My journey with Jesus changed forever when I decided that I was going to learn how to feed myself. I made a commitment to God and myself that I would spend an hour reading God's word before I went to bed each night. At first it was a struggle, but then God began to open my eyes and I couldn't get enough of God's word. That is when I began to grow by leaps and bounds.
I am not angry at those who are "church shopping" or depending on the church to "feed" them spiritually. I understand why you feel that way. Unfortunately, I feel like the church as a whole has been guilty of encouraging this dependence. We haven't taught believers how to feed themselves spiritually.
The church is a lot of things to a lot of people and I am grateful that God has called me to work in the church, but if you are looking to the church to be your only source of spiritual health and well being you will be greatly disappointed. You will never find a church that will adequately meet all of your needs because it wasn't designed to do that, only God can!
