Part 1 of a 2 part series.
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I still remember when I first heard the word, sepsis.
I remember it because I failed.
Sepsis is the human body’s violent reaction to an extreme infection event. As a young—and admittedly rather dumb and inexperienced—minister, I didn’t grasp the seriousness or life-threatening nature of the situation, so I didn’t immediately call, text, or visit the patient or family. The individual passed, and while the family was unaware that I had known in enough time to connect, I knew.
In a sepsis event, the body goes toxic, fighting the good parts of itself rather than the toxic parts.
These days, more and more churches seem to be ‘going toxic.’
Churches that were once strong beacons of hope and grace are turning on themselves, ravaging the most healthy and life-giving parts of themselves rather than the parts that need to be amputated.
When a church allows toxicity to take root, one must act quickly or the church will soon not have the will to remove it. The longer the infection remains, the less and less likely a church will confront it. Soon, like Stockholm Syndrome, parishioners develop positive feelings toward the toxicity, often protecting the problem. The unhealthy person, program, or problem becomes a part of the organism, and the fear of the pain of removal seems worse than the slow but eventual death that will come as a result of the “sinfection.”
By this point, things are dire. If a Pastor or Leader tries to remove/fix the person, program, or problem, then the church will often turn on the “Agent of Healing,” falsely seeing the healer as the unhealth, removing them instead.
Religious Sepsis has set in.
So, how do we recognize the signs of toxicity? … or put positively, how do we know that we are not a toxic church… that we are healthy? Because that is what we hope and desire for every church.
This is not an easy answer, and I am not an expert as much as an experienced sojourner. But, I have some ideas:
Is this church an Acts 2:42-47 church, focused on the Apostle’s teaching, Fellowship, Prayer, Meals, and a socialism-level of Sharing everything they have with all? Before you jump to a quick yes, I’m going to push back and say, “not so fast.”
You may think that the “Apostles’ Teaching” means holding to radically-strong doctrine. You’d be wrong. The Apostle’s teaching seemed to focus on the radical kind of living that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount and parables, rather than strict doctrinal structures. They couldn’t pull out a “statement of faith”, they don’t have one. They couldn’t trot out the Bible, it doesn’t exist yet (and won’t for a few hundred years). And they certainly aren’t going to trot out doctrines like “submission of women,” “young-earth creationism,” “the elect,” or whatever the particular beliefs that we like to focus on today. No, not at all. They had one string on their guitar… one thing that cared about, Jesus. The “Apostles’ teaching” would have been solely focused on helping people know and understand Jesus better. I know this, conclusively, because Acts 5:42 and 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 tells us that is all they taught. They developed beliefs, of course, but they were much more concerned with being the church than they were being right. Did you hear that? Toxic churches tend to say that they are preaching Jesus, but what they are really preaching are doctrines or belief systems that weren’t taught or held by Jesus at all (and are sometimes in direct conflict with his teachings). It is easy for a church to believe that their beliefs are blessed by Jesus… until they actually read Jesus. And if we read Jesus, we discover that toxic religious systems place propositional truths (doctrines) before people.
“Fellowship” is an activity in which every church considers itself really excellent, but fellowship is about more than liking the people that you worship with. If you hear fellowship and think “coffee time before the service starts” or a “midweek dinner in the Fellowship Hall” or conversations with friends after services before heading to brunch on Sunday, you’ve missed the mark. This was doing life together. This was a 24/7/365 band-of-brothers (and sisters) mentality that wasn’t exclusive in order to keep people out, but instead, welcomed everyone into the club of koinonia (which is the Greek word for fellowship that is used here. If people are regularly outsiders from the in-crowd, then your congregation may not yet have true koinonia. If the weird, wacky, and zany are not equally invited and included, there may not be koinonia. If it’s the haves and the have-nots, no koinonia. If everyone looks alike, or if your congregation isn’t reflective of the diversity in the community, you should question the koinonia. If new people don’t feel welcome or don’t hang around long, then yes, it’s a koinonia catastrophe. More than just a word, their koinonia community had outsiders busting down the doors of their houses to be a part. Since that isn’t happening in churches (people busting down the doors to get in), I think much of our koinonia is busted.
The early Christians had great “Meals” … FEASTS! They knew how to throw a good dinner party, which means an extravagant one. We’ve lost the art of the feast and don’t even see it in the story. Their meals had wine, a lot of it. Remember, many of them remembered Jesus making wine… a lot of it, because they were there. Literally there. And Jesus loved a good meal, almost every page of the gospels being filled with food and feasts. So the early Christians kept throwing feasts. All of those Catholic feast days (like 2 or 3 a week) aren’t metaphorical. These feast days are remnants of a time when the church got together to feast and celebrate someone or something several times a week. If it was a “feast day”, they literally feasted. Their table theology puts ours to shame. Remember, there are pages and pages of Paul devoted to a discussion of why the Early Christians could use the best meat around “that which had been sacrificed to idols” for their dinner parties. Paul said, “Party on.”
And “Prayer,” well, they believed that prayer moved mountains. Not metaphorical ones, but literal ones. They prayed for everything, all the time, no matter how impossible it seemed… often through the night, and they prayed around the clock at certain times every day (and through the night). It was so effective that Islam picked it up, and they kept it when Christianity all but dropped it… and we wonder why Islam is catching fire around the world and Christianity is meh.
I used some divisive language around the word “Sharing” just a moment ago didn’t I? When I said that it was a “socialism-level” of sharing. Many haven’t heard anything else I’ve said since then. This is a shame, but my language, to be honest, was intentionally triggering, and it was directed at you/me/we/us USAmericans. Humorously, it should be triggering. I know, the idea of Socialism (or Communism) cuts to the heart of our Civil Religion, but I am asking you to think about a different and more important one: your christ-centered one. A lifestyle that gives and shares everything shouldn’t trigger us, but it often does, and if you are triggered by the idea that you, as a Christian, should be open-handed with your blessings because, well, the Bible… then I’d encourage you to re-read the Book of Acts (and maybe all of the Jesus whatnot in the Gospels again). The Sermon on the Mount and the parables (especially the Parable of the Vineyard Workers) is a good place to begin.
Here’s the thing.
ALL of these things should trigger us like the “socialism” one. And if they don’t, then we haven’t really understood the story yet. And, more importantly, we’ve not really understood what the church is supposed to look like.
So if you are looking to see whether your church is healthy or toxic, you have to look and see whether these things are present or missing, realizing that churches oftentimes speak about these things, without actually doing them or striving to do them.
In short: Having teaching, fellowship, meals, prayer, and sharing of things DOES NOT mean a church is doing these things in the Acts 2:42-47 sense,
BUT,
When a church IS deeply rooted in many/all of these 5 items, then we should expect that our church community is more healthy than it is toxic.
Jesus said in John 10:10, “I have come that you would be able to have life, and have it in abundance.” When we are hitting the mark on these 5 things, we experience life like only Jesus can offer… and that life spills over into everyone and everything around us.
Did I learn my lesson from sepsis?
Yes.
In the healthcare field, I can’t do much but be there for the patient and the family… and be there quickly. If you see me, I’ll offer a hug, and prayer, and to sit with you.
But in the church health realm, I can be a force to be reckoned with in the face of toxic infection. Few have seen what I have seen and had their faith live to tell about it. If you see me, I’ll offer wisdom, help, and I’ll have a scalpel in hand ready to get to work
NOTE: Part 2 will engage more practical ways to know if you are in a healthy or toxic church.
Wow, again you have me looking inward on what I truly believe, and where I trust to listen to HIM. A lot of self checking. I love it… keep it coming ❤️