Church Hopping and Shopping

You can count the number of churches I've been a part of for the past twenty years on one hand.  Two of those churches we left because of geographic changes (we moved because of my job).  One church we left because we were "gifted" to another church to lead worship there.  The last church we left (with the prayers and blessing of the Pastor and the congregation) three years ago to plant Crossroads.  I'm not special, but I learned something important along the way.  There is GREAT benefit to you when you grow where God plants you.

I'm BIG on growing where God has planted me.  I've experienced the blessing of being a vital part of a community of believers.  At the same time, I've seen how my decision to stay comitted has been a blessing to others along the way.  I've also seen the other side of things.  As a Christian, a worship leader, a youth pastor and now a pastor, I have seen over and over how people "hop and shop"; literally going from church to church as the mood strikes them, or getting offended in some way and leaving without working things out, or staying in a continual mode of trying to find the "perfect church" and never settling down in one place long enough to actually be a vital part of a community of believers.  It's flat tragic and totally avoidable.

Steven Furtick pastor of Elevation Church wrote an excellent Blog post about it yesterday.  Have a look:

One of the things that really troubles me about the church today is the phenomenon of church hopping and church shopping. It’s a consumeristic mindset towards the body of Christ that grieves the heart of God. 

It’s time for us to stop the hop. This isn’t Christianity. Jesus didn’t die so we could sample different churches like varieties of meat on a party platter. Jesus died to establish His church as the most powerful entity on the planet. 

We are alive at the greatest time in history for the advance of the gospel. We have so much going for us. 

We have the ability. 

We have the resources. 

We have the people.

What we don’t have is them committed to a place where they can actually be used for their God-ordained purpose. 

If this generation doesn’t make the impact it should, it won’t be because it didn’t have the resources. Or even the passion. It will be because it was too busy hopping to different churches to stop and commit to one where its resources and passion could actually find an outlet. 

The church is the change the world is waiting for. God help us if we keep the world waiting for us while we try to find the perfect church for us. 

If you’ve fallen into the trap of church hopping, let me encourage you: embrace your place somewhere where God can use you. At the end of your life, God’s not going to be impressed or pleased that you saw what He was doing at ten different churches. He’s going be more pleased that you were a part of what He was doing at one church. 

And you’re never going to find the perfect one, so give up looking. If the church you’re visiting doesn’t have what you’re looking for, it might be because God wants you to provide it. 

Let’s all commit together to begin a campaign to stop the hop.  Find a place to get planted. Embrace it. And start changing the world. 

The question of our day isn’t if God wants to do incredible things through the church. The question is will we be in place to experience it?

Good stuff.