The Egocentric Church = Idolatrous Church?

For those of you who know me or have heard me talk about my neighborhood I think you know that I am very passionate and loving of people and places that have crossed my path. I tear up and emotions easily well up as I feel that I am so inadequate at sharing my experiences. I think sometimes this passion can be perceived as idolatry of my neighborhood, especially if it seems to come up all the time in conversation. So is this actually idolatry?

I think almost anything and everything can be an idol to us at times, Robert Lupton, reminds me that idolatry in America it is actually called MATERIALISM. Sometimes it goes beyond material things, sometimes we hold our safety, our comforts, our lives as idols. There are many things that we think are too risky, crazy, or stupid to give up sometimes. In Luke 9:59 - 60 Jesus tells a man that wants to bury his father to let the dead bury the dead. By this statement I am not diminishing the a human life to the worth of a piece of paper, I am merely alluding to the fact that we “hold” onto them like “materials”. As I get older and more mature, I am cherishing the moments I get to spend with my dad more and more so I realize that a statement like this is gut wrenching. Christ calls us to some big gut checks sometimes. Phillipians 4:13 States that we can do all things through Christ, so if you feel that you cannot do without some of your materialism or idols then there is something wrong.

I believe that we learn to let the dead bury the dead in little bites over time. In high school for me it was getting over the desire to be “popular“ so ended up being the awkward kid in class that wore polyester golf pants and butterfly collared shirts to high school from 2000 -2002. In college I abandoned the pressures of my parents to be the typical Chinese male that studied math or science and became a Sculpture major. Eventually giving up bits and pieces of what was me brings me to where I am today. I am in Central City, New Orleans and love it. When we begin to face challenges and overcome our fears we build confidence and character that allows us to more fully enjoy how God has created us and His creation. I wish I could say that I fully understood Romans 5 early on but as life goes on, my understanding grows much deeper.

As we go through life tackling one idol or idea after another there may come a point where you know sense a very distinct call to your life that God has prepared you for. This Calling becomes your breath, it’s you being the hands and feet of Christ. At this moment we are emotional wrecks when we get to talk about our passion, and everything begins to revolve around what God has called us to. We often begin to be evangelical about Christ and the calling. Sometimes our passion is mistaken for Idolatry of ministry because we shout it from every rooftop. It is sad to say but it is probably frequent that ministry does become an idol at times. I know at one point a year or two ago, I was recruiting for some help for an event on Halloween and a friend responded to me in a very profound way. She said ”how about you do your event in your neighborhood and I’ll be apart of things in my neighborhood.“ It was at this point that I realized that I was being egocentric of my experiences. I feel very fortunate to have had a friend that phrased things the way that she did. Though it hurt a little because I felt that it was a rejection, it was also a rude awakening to me. I realized that I may have been close to placing ministry before God, or God’s call on their lives. Moments after my initial feelings of sadness, I felt great relief because it really didn’t matter that she was not partaking in my event because she was being the hands and feet of Christ to her neighborhood. When we develop ministries or churches its very easy for us to get wrapped up into ourselves and become very egocentric about the church and the ministry. Sometimes we don’t realize that we are placing the church or ministry as an Idol.

There is egocentric shrapnel when ministry becomes an idol. This usually this occurs when there is over confidence and a loss of humility. Often an egocentric leadership will easily get angry when people depart to chase after God and leave the ”prized“ environment created. I know I have often felt the saying ”It’s your loss,“ go through my mind at times when people aren’t interested in what God is doing through me. My response should me more like, ”May God bless you in your pursuits and let me know if I can help in any way.“ If you didn’t know, we have supposedly been disciplined by a church that we attended in October 2010. The supposed basis of our discipline, revolved around us not being committed to their church, ”holding our neighborhood as an idol to the church“. Situations like this occur everywhere, in church, work, and even at home. My parents wanted me to study engineering or mathematics, and we had a pretty rough fight when I chose to pursue art. The difference, between instances of family issues and work/church issues is that I believe that there is more true love in a good family that is more caring and restorative. When churches and businesses fight, whomever has more money or power usually ”wins“ and cuts the relationship/love off immediately. The american culture has developed a cut-throat business mentality, and sadly it has also permeated into the church and families. The solution is to continually try to love as He first loved us. Christ allowed people to make mistakes, He led taking risks, He led challenging injustice, He led with innovation, He led humbly.

For those of you who want to know what is shaking down here in the Wong Household:
Since we were married a little over a year ago, and thrown into a whirlwind with church issues last fall. We have been laying low, grieving, processing, and recovering. Rachel and I were very emotionally and spiritually hurt through it all, and change like that within our first year of marriage made things emotionally and spiritually draining. Through our tough time their has been great joy in sorting through our thoughts of church and our neighborhood. We are very thankful for our awesome employers and jobs here in New Orleans, they have been a great stabilizer for us. Rae and I are becoming more like one everyday. We used to have two very individualistic ideas about loving Christ, and loving others, and now those ideas are starting to merge into our ideas, thoughts, and passions. We believe that there is a growing movement that should be of an ordinary tale of people truly bringing Christ’s love and compassion locally to family, friends, widow, orphan, and even prisoners.

Our current dream: to start up a solid business to employ, educate, and train our neighbors so that they can be leaders in our community..... Step one: save money, and find partners, woohoo!