Problems First, Then Solutions

In keeping with the spirit of my last post, the role of the critic is to use what may be wrong to point to and encourage what might be right.  So what's wrong?  I mean really wrong?  Not just the standard, "Oh yeah we could probably do better than that."  And certainly not the "Well, I can't prove that it's right or wrong but I prefer it my way."  I'm talking about where we really miss the mark.  In some things I think it pretty obvious.  In other things less so.  But the mark has to be set by the Bible, not by me, and not by the latest church growth strategy book.

So how have we, as the church, diverted from Scripture?  Anyone who has read any of the many books on that subject will probably not be very surprised by my views.  There is nothing new about what I'm going to write here.  These problems have been well documented by Christian writers, thinkers, leaders, and scholars of many different backgrounds.  But I feel like I've got to clarify them for my own use, in order to then clarify my prayerful search for Biblical solutions.  So here goes, in short format:

Note: These are generalizations.  I know it.  Anyone with half a brain who reads this will know it.  For my purpose here, generalizations are helpful because they identify common trends.

The church has traded discipleship and its identity as the body of Christ for membership and consumerism.  The church has traded spiritual maturity for denominational indoctrination.  The church persists in its denominational identities in spite of clear instruction from Scripture to the contrary.  Discipleship, the only modality of the early church, is, in its original form, extremely rare today.  The leadership of the church has come to center around personality and high profile pastors, rather than the fivefold leadership gifts practiced organically within the body.  The church has, all too often, sanctified materialism, promiscuity, and other sinful behaviors, or pretended they are not problematic within our fellowships.  The church rarely practices confession, even though we've seen it's power when it is employed.  The church is more Roman than Jewish in its orientation and practice, even though Judaism is its true root.  The church is not global in its approach to poverty, nor is it local in its approach to fellowship.  Individual preference has replaced submission and calling.  What we want to do we label as God's leading, even if our direction is contrary to Scripture.  We have virtually nullified the need for grace by changing the definition of what it means to be a good person to something we are capable of achieving.  That is, we've lowered the standard to what we, and almost anyone, can accomplish rather that holding ourselves or anyone else to the standard of Christ.

Whew!  Not a fun list.  And many would contest me on it, I'm sure.  But this is what I see.  And, in keeping with the purpose of criticism, I going to try to identify some Biblical directions that contrast with these trends.