sucked in?

Romans 12:2 - And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (NKJV)

I was checking out an old friend's blog (hey Bec!) and all of the interesting things she has on the side when I came across churchmarketingsucks.com. Things like this always interest me, and I decided to take a look.

It got me thinking (actually there has been a lot of thinking about this recently) on how much the church in the western world conforms to this 'marketing'. I guess it's almost like making church appealing to unbelievers, stooping down to the worlds standards to make church look great.

And while we are decorating and polishing and making things shiny, I think that we are forgetting one thing..

Where has the power of God gone?

We can make things as material as we like, but if God's not there, and if He's not in control.. what's going to happen? Are people attracted to the shininess or God's spirit? Are they going to be living in the fact that it's cool, or because of Jesus? hmmmm..

This easter it will mark the 6 year anniversary of the day I decided to follow Jesus. And with all this I started thinking about why I made the decision at the time. I wasn't anywhere fancy. I was at this unitinf church camp at a beach called Robe in South Australia, with a few guys from Pinnaroo, and other various other people in the South East.

I had been there over easter, and I was probably the most rebelious, furtherest from being saved person ever. The last night of the camp (what is it with last nights of camps being 'so spiritual'?) was when I decided to let Jesus into my life. This man spoke with such a power, like an anointing. It wasn't just emotion. But every heart was just drawn to God and what he was saying. I knew that I needed God, and I could feel just this tugging at my heart. You could feel the hunger of everyone in the room. The guy told us that if we wanted to invite Jesus into our heart, with every eye closed, we walk up the front. EVERYONE on this camp stumbled over the chairs with their eyes closed and raised their hands toward heaven and bawled their eyes out. Myself included, except I didn't cry. Which I found bizarre, because I used to think I wasn't properly 'saved' because I didn't cry. I was just shaking, uncontrolably trembling at the spirit of God.

The point of that story pretty much was that I was attracted to God because of His presensce. I had such a hunger to leave my life of sin, I wanted the renewing. Someone even said to me that night, "your life will never be the same again.." They were too right.

I think people half expected 'the christian thing' to be just one of my 'phases'.. Like the retro phase, the Sammy airways phase.. nuh uh!

I got thinking about this renewing power of christ. It's so powerful. I was a wreck before I decided to follow Jesus, going down fast in the world of high school worldliness and conformity. I even got thinking about what my life would be like if I hadn't of followed christ, I don't think I would be a good citizen. But that's the power of christ! And it constantly transforms me day after day after day given that I let Him.

I had my own struggle with shininess. After this amazing experience at Robe I had to go home and face non christian parents and friends, "what will people think when they hear that I'm a Jesus freak?" - DC talk. I had to deal with the struggles of living hours away from anywhere, and having no way to get there. Luckily I was blessed by a very strong youth leader who has influenced me so greatly (it only takes ONE person) and has played a definate part in who I am today. Living in Pinnaroo was a struggle. It took perseverence. It took the power of God. In fact I want to take a whole bunch of my Bendigo friends back with me so you can see how small and desolate it is and be amazed (I think there's a lack of comprehension sometimes, Pinnaroo is probably barely a quater the size of Castlemaine and in the middle of nowhere. And I'm not exaggerating)!

Back to my shiny struggle, sometimes I would get to go to some really cool events in Adelaide from time to time and that was really awesome to get different culture. But as a crazy teenager, I was drawn in by a lot of cool things there, get back to Pinnaroo and be so discontent with what I had. I just wanted to move to the city and be where the cool christians were. I felt like I needed this to be complete, and suddenly I was critical of the power filled hymns the old ladies sang at church. Suddenly I wanted to get guitarists, drum players in and make my church this rocking place! But I soon realised that my motives behind this were all wrong. I just wanted to 'fit in'. Hello? We are called to be set apart! Be in the world, but not of it! Sammy you crazy girl, what are you doing?

It's not to say God can't use big churches, however I think christians some times need to be encouraged that God doesn't just work there. God can work with very little. His word says that where there is two or three people are gathered in His name He will be in the midst of them (Matt 18:20). Two or three people!! That's not many! What are we waiting for? God is ready to work when you let Him!

I hope my stories have encouraged you. This isn't an attack at any particular church or denomination, but just an observation of western churches really.