Jesus Cropped from the Picture

The First Cropping Tool: Individualism

needs. Maybe I should find a different church. Sometimes I do not get much from my Bible reading. I do not feel fed by this pastor. The programs do not meet my needs. The people are not helping me grow spiritually.” People who make such statements show that Jesus may have been cropped from their picture . Their problems are not necessarily the fault of the church, the pastor, or the programs, but with their Self-orientation . The individual has become the SUBJECT , and Jesus has become the OBJECT . Bob Roberts said, “The individualistic, narcissistic, consumer mind-set that has gripped the church today is killing us.” 15 There is a humorous illustration of this consumer mind-set at youtube.com called, Drive-Through Church. 16 It would be hilarious if it were not so painfully accurate . In a series of vignettes, drivers pull up to what looks like a fast-food drive-through. However, each car is actually pulling up to order what they want from church. The person on the speaker asks, “How can we feed you today?” One person asks for a good parking space in the shade; another for a 25-minute inspiring sermon, but not too challenging; a third person asks for three clapping songs, but no handshaking with new people. Another man drives up and asks who the preacher is that day. When told, “Pastor Wilkes,” he begins to drive away, saying, “I’m not so crazy about him.” When the voice recants and mentions a different preacher, the man backs up his car and says, “That’s more like it.”

In contrast to the “Drive-Through Church” that produces bored Christians, the un-cropped picture of Christ and his Story (see Figure 1)

29