I had the unique privilege to speak at a couple different churches last month and I noticed something about them both: they were slow.

If we are in the business of church growth, would it not be a good idea to speed things up? After all, you need to keep people’s attention. Keep them awake. More sound, moving lights, and a short and timely message. If you have been to a large, thriving church, this is what you will typically receive. Plus good coffee and professional programming for your kids.

But these small churches are slow, with no lights or concert music. Just normal people, sharing how God is moving or how they’d like to see Him move. The music comes from an old hymnal. And the pews are worn in, nearly worn out.

While I enjoy the experience of the big church, I tend to think that the big churches have much to learn from the elder, smaller siblings.

In a world that is fast, I think the church has an opportunity to teach people how to be slow. In a world that is constantly entertaining, I think the church has the opportunity to risk boredom. In a tech heavy culture, the church has an opportunity to be minimalistic. In a culture that celebrates the individual, the church teaches how to participate in a body.

I am not saying that everything in our culture is bad. And I am not saying that the church should seek to be contrary to everything the outside culture does, but I think it is worth recognizing that the culture being endorsed at large is not producing the greatest outcomes for it’s people.

Rampant individualism has led to the loneliest generation ever.

Technology has negatively attributed to our ability to pay attention and our mental health.

Being constantly entertained has rewired our neurochemistry to such a degree that boredom is worse than sin.

And we have lost our sense of curiosity and imagination because no one takes the time to think, to move slow.

The culture we are trying to establish in the church is in many ways an enemy to the one the world is trying to establish. When we so freely incorporate the culture of the world in with the church for the sake of growing, we may lose out on the possibility of changing the culture altogether.

How interesting that people are trying to get off their phones, but our churches feel the best way to reach them is by creating a church app for them to connect on. And people want reasons to unsubscribe from their social media, but we tell them to check us out on your platform of choice. We will preach simplicity then have the most complex setup of lights and cameras.

What are we actually trying to accomplish when we put so much emphasis on performance? What are we proclaiming that we actually value?

Matthew 25 is the crux of what I am getting at.

When judgement day comes, the Lord will separate the faithful and unfaithful. To the righteous, he will look and say “Well done, good and faithful. When I was naked, you clothed me, when I was hungry you fed me, when I was thirsty you gave me something to drink.” They will say, “When did we do these things?” To which the Lord replies, “What you have done for the least of these you did for me”. To the unrighteous the Lord will say, “You did not clothe me or feed me or give me drink”, and they will say “When did we see you in this way?” The Lord will reply, “What you did not do for the least of these, so you did not do for me.”

There will be many people we think of as highly religious who will not make it into heaven. They will have led fancy worship sets, established big church buildings, and maybe even preached to stadium size crowds.

But if all those Sundays in attendance or leading did not lead to a change in heart that bore the fruit of caring for the least of these, then truly we missed the purpose of religion to begin with.

If we are to follow Jesus, then we have to remember he spent much of his time in the lost places with unclean people, not in the pristine quarters of the temple among the religious elite. To be with Jesus and to become like him is to spend most of your time with the poor, the lost, the unclean, the orphans and the widows.

The current style of Christianity endorsed by the masses is transactional so that we by attending can get into heaven and out of hell.

The type of religion endorsed by Jesus is relational, and relationships are slow. It is about reconciling heaven and earth through the working of the Spirit in and through our life.

It may not look as attractive at first, but it is beautiful in time.

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