The Church belongs to Jesus. This means, we must build Christ’s church the way he desires. Unfortunately, there are so many lies that Christians believe and practice regarding church and their church life. Thankfully we can combat these untruths through the writings of the people who best understood how Jesus wanted his church—his disciples. Therefore, we must go back to the Bible to correctly understand Jesus’ church and build it according to his will and plan. These are the 10 lies that I routinely see and hear about among believers. My prayer for all of us, especially for the local church pastors, is that we will go back to the Bible and do whatever it takes to obey Christ to build his church the way he has always wanted.
1. I can be a Christian without being a member of a local church. Church membership is not necessary for my spiritual growth.
When Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church,” he was referring to the universal church that will be made up of God’s children for all eternity. However, when the New Testament uses the word “church,” it is almost always referring to a specific local church (Romans 16:5). Jesus’ universal church is made up of millions and millions of local churches all over the world— past, present and future. In other words, we can’t really be a part of Jesus’ universal church without being a part of his local church.
Local church membership requirement is not spelled out in the New Testament because it was just simply too obvious, assumed, and unquestioned. If someone calls himself a Christ-follower, he or she must become a member of a local church.
2. I will serve in ministry at my church when I can. Ministry is an optional thing and not everyone can or has to serve. Plus, it’s pastors who are responsible for church ministry, not members.
The New Testament clearly teaches us that Jesus is the head of his church, church is his body, and Christians are parts of his body. In addition, every part of Christ’s body is endowed with at least one spiritual gift to use to build up and edify the church. So anyone who calls himself a Christian must take part in serving and building the church.
This means pastors and lay members must serve in ministry. In fact, most of the church’s work should be done by lay members (Eph. 4:11-12). Pastors are supposed to function as coach and trainer of God’s people. After getting equipped by their pastors, lay members are the ones who must function as ministers doing ministry, much like players on the court playing the game.
Therefore, pastors must equip their members to do ministry, otherwise lay members will be robbed of ministry opportunities to which there is a corresponding heavenly reward. All Christians need to remember that church ministry belongs to lay members.
3. I can follow Jesus without getting baptized publicly. Baptism doesn’t save people.
Yes, baptism doesn’t save people. But through public baptism we profess our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Every salvation in the book of Acts is followed by water baptism. If baptism is not important to us in our Christian life, Jesus wouldn’t have said what he said in his Great Commission in Matthew 28. Therefore, if it was important to Jesus, it must be important to us as well.
4. Giving is a personal matter and pastors shouldn’t talk about it. Tithing is an Old Testament command, so I don’t need to tithe to grow spiritually. I will decide how much I will give to church.
Tithing is not a Mosaic law. Abraham tithed to Melchizedek, hundreds of years before Moses was born. And in the New Testament, Jesus said not to neglect tithing (Matthew 23:23). He also said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).
The right question for Christians to ask regarding giving is, “Why does God command us to bring just 10% of our income and not 20% or 50%? What can I give to God to show Him how grateful I am for saving me?” We can tithe without loving God, but we can’t love God without tithing. Tithing tests and reveals the love and condition of our hearts towards God.
5. I am not good at evangelizing the lost, but I am good at discipling Christians.
Some churches and members say that they are not good at evangelizing people but very good at discipling Christians. This is a very strange statement. Jesus asked Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow him because he will make them fishers of men.
True discipleship can’t be separated from evangelism. In fact, true discipleship, according to Jesus, starts with evangelism. If we want to be more like Jesus, then we must save the lost and then make them disciples of Jesus. Discipleship that is devoid of evangelism is not biblical discipleship.
6. I can become more like Jesus when I do “discipleship Bible study.”
There’s an underlying assumption when we use terms like “discipleship Bible study.” It presumes that if we study the Bible, then we will become more mature disciples of Jesus. But this is wrong. That simply makes us good scholars.
Then who are Jesus’ disciples? Those who think, do, say, and live like Jesus. Jesus’ life is made up of two things: his character (who he was) and his ministry (what he did). If we want to be more like Jesus, then we must develop our character to be more like Jesus and we must do the works of Jesus.
Unfortunately, we can’t develop our character to be like Jesus and we can’t do the works of Jesus through “discipleship Bible study.” Our character gets developed to be more like Jesus when we interact with those who are very different from us and rub us in the wrong way. When we live in close proximity with others who are not like us, we get challenged to die to ourselves, be patient with others, and love them the way Jesus loved us.
7. I don’t need to be a part of a small group to grow spiritually.
We often think that we are spiritually mature. However, our true character gets revealed and displayed for all to see when we are doing life together with a small group of people. How do we respond and relate to those who are overbearing, frequently late, selfish, stingy, rough around the edges, etc.? This is when our character is revealed, tested, potentially developed to be more like Jesus.
The spirituality that our Lord Jesus espoused for us to pursue after is not monastery spirituality where everything is quiet and sterile, but marketplace spirituality where things are loud and messy. Therefore, without intimately getting involved in a small group and doing life together with the small group members, it’s not possible for us to grow in our character to be more like Christ.
8. Sunday worship is where I get fed spiritually. It is the most important thing for Christians.
We don’t come to Sunday worship to get fed. We come to worship God together with other brothers and sisters in Christ. That’s because the focus of not just Sunday worship but any worship is God, not us. It is when we worship God with all our hearts, minds and souls that God meets and ministers to us by giving us the grace we need to go on with our life.
We must be taught and equipped by pastors to become self-feeding Christians, not just Sunday Christians. That way we can live our life from Monday through Saturday faithfully sharing and representing Jesus to those around us and doing Jesus’ ministry to those whom God brings into our life. Having lived this way all throughout the week, if we come together for worship on Sunday, God will surely pour out His grace on us. Why wouldn’t He?
9. Pastors shouldn’t get paid a lot.
It pains me to see how little pastors get compensated in many churches. Yes, some senior pastors in megachurches get paid a lot like CEOs of major companies. However, the vast majority of local church pastors get paid so little that it is not possible to take care of their families unless their spouses work. This is not right.
The Bible is clear that churches should take good care of their pastors (1 Tim. 5:17-18). If church members need something in life, then chances are pastors need the same thing. Pastors need a safe and peaceful home to live in, reliable cars to drive, vacations to go on, money for kids’ school and their reasonable extracurricular activities, and funds for rainy days and retirement. It would be wise for churches to compensate their pastors just a little above the average of their members’ income so that they would be able to fully focus on pastoral ministry without having to worry about their finances.
10. I am keeping my distance from church because I got hurt and jaded by church so much growing up.
Here, I am not referring to those deep hurts such as sexual, verbal or financial abuses that you have experienced from your church and spiritual leaders. If this is you, I weep with you as a fellow victim who has been hurt and abused by church leaders during my youthful years. Things like what you and I encountered and experienced should not happen in Christ’s church. So, I empathize with you and pray for your healing.
For this final point, I want to address those Christians who keep their distance from or leave their church for reasons that are petty in light of what Christ did for us on the cross.
Have you ever hurt anyone in your life? You sure have. We all have hurt people intentionally and unintentionally. Now, if these people who have been hurt by us don’t extend forgiveness to us, what would happen to our relationship with them? And when we hurt people, especially our church family members, we hurt Jesus himself because church is Jesus’ body. And what would happen to us if Jesus who has been hurt by us refuses to forgive us?
Church is made up of people who are saved by Christ yet imperfect and flawed. We are on our journey to become more and more like Christ. Until we reach heaven, we will always hurt and get hurt by one another, and therefore, we must learn how to relate to each other in a more Christlike manner. We must learn to ask for forgiveness and forgive others as God forgave us in Christ.