The Living Waters Podcast Ep. 13 - Annoying Things Churches Do
Christians are saved out of anonymity and into a community of believers called the Church. Christians are called to participate in and love their local church, but sometimes things happen that get under our skin. Listen to the guys discuss the struggles of the modern church experience and how we can remind ourselves that the local church is a part of something much bigger than all of us.
Welcome to Living Waters, a new podcast hosted by Ray Comfort, Emeal (“E.Z.”) Zwayne, Mark Spence and Oscar Navarro. In each episode, they will guide discussions alongside various special guests to explore pressing questions of our day with sound theology and apologetics!
On today’s episode, the guys are back to discuss some of the annoying things churches do during service. It’s no secret that modern day churches are nothing like they were in biblical times. Many people today are disconnected from the church. When we think of a church we often think of the physical building or place, however it’s really the people and the community that make up a church. Big box churches are trying way too hard to be like the world, and refuse to be God’s synagogue. The best thing a church can be is faithful to God.
They all agree that one of the most annoying things churches can do is ask first time visitors to stand. This is a great way to ensure that a visitor never wants to come back to your church again. Another big pet peeve is when worship songs aren’t actually being sung to God. This makes it seem like you’re praying to God rather than worshipping him. Some churches' majority conjugation are there for the entertaining experience rather than to participate. While some people like greeting their neighbors during service, others don’t feel as comfortable shaking strangers hands. Then, they offer some tips for engaging a church congregation who aren’t participating.
As the episode wraps up, they clarify that they aren;t intending to poke fun at anyone’s church or worshiping style. Rather, they are talking about human quirks which are brought into the tradition of the church which can become a distraction from God’s plan. Not only are we members of the church, but lovers of the church of God too. A biggest pet peeve is when people get too caught up in consumer Christianity and lose sight of God’s plan. We spend most of our lives being consumers of different things, but church is the one place where you are not a consumer. God is the leader of the church and he means for you to be there as a participant of His body. In closing, we hear a few verses of the scripture and are urged to find a God loving, people loving church to call home.
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Learn more about the hosts of this podcast.
Ray Comfort
Emeal (“E.Z.”) Zwayne
Mark Spence
Oscar Navarro