Many people marvel when they find out that I do not go to
church every Sunday. For more than 6 years I've been absent from regular church
services/meetings/buildings. When they hear this, the typical churchgoer looks
at me funny as if I have leprosy or seriously plagued. Most churchgoers cannot
imagine a true Christian or Worshipper outside of Church, so they surmise that
if Olakunle is not attending any local church, he must either be a skeptic, an
atheist or a backslider. I really do not blame them.
Many of them in their minds are wondering to themselves;
* How does he serve God without going to a local church?
* Where does he pay his tithes without going to a local
church? Etc.
Let me first respond to the latter question. I have said it
before that my 'tithes' (even though I no longer call it 'tithe') now go to my
parents. 10% of my income goes to my parents. If and when they die, my tithe
goes to charity. Tithes as captured in the Old Testament Scripture is no more
mandatory for the New Testament Believer, but the Modern Church loves it
because it caters to our empire-type notion of the church. I'll deal with
tithing in greater detail in the future.
To the first question (which is the crux of this post),
churchgoers today have a perverse understanding of service to God. To the 21st
Century Nigerian Churchgoer, service to God is all about slaving for your local
church and offering to it menial services. Hence, if you are not occupying a
place in any of the departments in the church (Choir, Ushering/Protocol,
Sanitation/Maintenance, Security, Evangelism etc), you are NOT serving God. And
for many, service to God is graduating from a Seminary or Bible College to
preach and pastor a local church. This is nothing but crap! It is the 21st
Century's definition of service, not the Scripture's.
On this issue, first and foremost, what we have today is not
Church. What we have is a Colosseum. A Greco-Roman architectural heritage that
found its way into the bloodstream of Christianity during the time of Emperor
Constantine. The direct Apostles of Jesus and those after them were cautious
not to build structures for worship. Jesus had taught them that the Temple (the
symbol of a concrete place of worship) would have not one stone on another;
meaning that bricks and stones are not the new agenda.
For 300 years, the Church of Christ had NO concrete building
until an Emperor became a 'Christian'. That should make any reasonable
Christian pause and think. For 300 years, no chorister dept, no protocol dept,
no security dept, no evangelism dept, no sanitation dept UNTIL an emperor
became a 'Christian'. Yet, Peter, James, John, Phillip, Matthew, Stephen, Paul
and the rest SERVED God and even died in fearless service; some were murdered
at the circus maximus.
You mean Christians served God for 300 years WITHOUT A
CHURCH BUILDING? Yes! Christianity survived the first 300 years without a
CENTRAL BUILDING FACILITY? Yes!! The reason is simple. Church is NOT a place,
neither is it a building. This is the truth Emperor Constantine removed (not
intentionally) from Christianity. He wanted to 'help' the status of
Christianity but ended up creating a falsehood. Early Christians met anywhere
and everywhere. And wherever they met was CHURCH.
After the Edict of Milan in 313AD (which legalized
Christianity in Rome, after centuries of persecution), Constantine began what
would later be known as church buildings. And the buildings were made to
conform to Royal taste and standard; befitting of an Emperor. A Colosseum. They
were gigantic, colourful and awe-inspiring; modeled after Roman architecture.
This is the history of your modern day church building projects.
So, whenever your Pastors/GOs ask for donations for
buildings, always remember Emperor Constantine in ancient Asia Minor
(Constantinople).
What an interesting irony this is. Christ The Carpenter
built no church building. But Constantine The Pagan Emperor (later converted)
built church buildings. Who then are we following? Whose model are we funding?
Apparently, from the foregoing facts, anyone can be of
service to God without frequenting a local church building. Christians did it
for three (3) centuries and they left greater impacts in time than we would
ever match.
Learn from history, not from your local pastor who wants to
survive economic recession.
Written by Olakunle Allison
www.facebook.com/barr.olakunleallison
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