Do we really understand what we ask people to do in the church? I think that some of our members know exactly what they are doing, but not everyone, maybe not even half. Some believers, who claim to share the message of truth never have an understanding of what they are doing. They memorize a script that even I dont understand sometimes. But do they do this to appease other members of Christian sub culture or to be more like Jesus?

I am from the SouthEast. I grew up in a conservative christian home. The rules were established and most of them were based off of scripture and the others from this thing we call wisdom. As I grew up in the church I thought I knew how to do things. Then, I went off to college and then seminary after that and it made realize that we, in the church get it wrong sometimes. In my opinion its not that complicated, apologize, promise not to do it again and move forward. Sometimes its that simple. But not always.

I live overseas and have done so for about the last eight years. We return to the states every so often for rest and renewal. This time, things are a little different for me. From the perspective of a church attender I see this blank look on the faces of church members sitting in the pews. It is as though they are just sitting there with no life. It might be that I have been trained to look for spiritual emptiness or the situation in the American church is much worse than I thought.

While listening to a podcast last week and someone mentioned the phrase "Do they participate in church to check a box of the christian sub culture, or to be more like Jesus?" That is exactly what I had seen over the past couple of months. But the real question remains. How do you change it? In my research I have found this has been a problem in the established church for years and the only way we can change it is by constant and consistent discipleship. This requires something many have heard of but few understand called "Accountability". We are not talking about the time when men come together and talk about their struggles. I am talking about holding members of the church accountable for being what they are... Christ followers. Are they being and acting more like Christ during the week, at home, school and work? Do those in church leadership even ask or do we assume that they are out there doing their thing for JC? Pray for God to open your eyes to the members of your fellowship that need a little more accountability and hold them accountable to be more like Jesus.