What Are We Doing?!

 

I was in my mid-30s, standing and singing in my pew during the worship service in an Assembly of God church, just as I had been doing since I was 4 years old.  Suddenly, I stopped singing and looked around the congregation.  I had this sudden and inexplicable feeling, almost like I woke up out of a trance or dream.  I looked at everyone singing along and raising hands.  I looked at the worship leader.  I had this thought that if a non-Christian came in from off the street they'd wonder why in the world these people were singing at each other!  I wondered, "what are we doing and why are we doing it?"

Every so often we evangelicals were reminded by our pastors or an evangelist that the way we conducted our church services was very much like how the early church did it.  However, I could not see the early church behaving as we did.  What we were doing seemed very modern and cultural.  As I looked back into church history I began to realize that it was indeed modern and cultural.  

But, that moment, that awakening out of the comfortable acceptance of "doing church" was the beginning of the end for me.  That was the moment I started questioning things.