Is it possible to separate Christian culture from Kingdom living? And what exactly do I mean by those terms? Christian culture refers of course, to expected behavior among a group of Christian believers. Of course, this varies by country and epoch.

For example, putting lots of chickens into a cage, cutting off their beaks, and letting them defecate on each other for their entire caged lives so that we can have our chicken sandwich for $1.99 instead of $2.56 has at times, been my Christian culture. This is not Kingdom living.

Kingdom living says:

Good people are good to their animals; the “good-hearted” bad people kick and abuse them. The Message

And so we dig a bit deeper into our pockets, to the place where it hurts, and place a few more coins on the counter for our lunch. OR heaven forbid, we eat a few more vegetables instead of another chicken sandwich because it’s cheaper than another piece of chicken, when we consider the true cost of paying for cage-free birds.

This is an example of an aspect of church culture (a common behavior) that I find frustrating.

There are a lot of unhealthy churches out there because there are a lot of unhealthy people out there. And people are what constitute the church. And I do understand that some church cultures are more unhealthy than others.

Some of the very wise, and my heart goes out to you dear friend, say, “That is not a healthy place” and do not return to church. I do not blame you. God does not blame you, I believe, though He is still pursuing you, dear friend.

Keep looking.

There are safe places to rest. But it might take a bit of seeking. And God will be healing you in the process of finding a safe group of Jesus-seeking people to belong to. Who you started out as won’t be the same person as who you end up as. That’s half the joy of the process, actually.

And there will still be annoying parts of church culture to correct no matter where you call home.

It’s the reason you’re there.

It’s the reason they need you.

Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. The Message

Been disgusted by Christian culture, or church culture lately? I have too. Jesus was, too. His harshest comments were for the leaders of His church. Ouch.

May our rears be sore from the spanking that Jesus gives us because it is better to have a sore rear than for our entire selves to be oozing puss from our unhealed diseases – the diseases of pride, love of money, prestige- that we are too proud to ask Jesus to heal.

However within the mess and the brokenness of Christian culture, in pockets of beauty, is the joy of Christ’s message, which is Kingdom living.

Thank you, Lord, that you love the mess that is your church, the mess that is me. Thank you that even here, in the charred remains of my heart, there lies an ember of love that you can fan into flame. Do your good work, dear Jesus. Help us to become Kingdom people, and not merely robots of Christian culture, we pray. Help those who have been rightly offended by Christian culture to find a home, in You, and with other broken people who are loved by You, we pray.