The McChurch of Canada

We live in an incredibly rich country. The North American church tries to make following Jesus attractive and we try to get people into the door and tell people it is great, we tell them that we have ALL the programs just for them. “Just come to our church and all your dreams will come true.”

“You do not have to look after any kids, we have people to do that for you. You do not have to help by meeting new people, we have people to do that for you. You do not have to pick up a vacuum cleaner, we do that for you. Oh please, let me pour your coffee. Please, don’t give any money to help pay any bills, we have people who will do that for you.”

But we still shop for churches. We compare the services between them like we do everything else. The music is better here, but the preaching is better there. And the children’s program is just like Sesame Street over there. But then, we’d have to drive 25 minutes to get there, so it’s a tossup.

This is what I do not get. People come and consume on the local church level, but they don’t buy into it, no they wait and wait to see if they will commit. Not only do they not buy into it they don’t contribute at all. Try that in Wal-mart. Walk in and start eating the chips in the isle and walk out without paying. You won’t get very far, yet it is acceptable in McChurch. Even when you go to a movie you have to pay at the door and not half way through. Not to mention that you have no problem dropping $20 for POP CORN!!!!!!!

Consume, consume and consume and when you get ticked at the pastor or someone else you can move over to the other retailer, because they don’t know you or your history and THEY want your business. But since everything is cyclical they are bound to find out, within a year or two…because that is when you get hacked-off with someone and it is time to leave again. Patterns are so loud and clear and it is funny to see that most people are blind to them.

McChurch. Some Christians are interesting. Think about this.

-Today, across the world, 1.3 billion people live on less than one dollar a day;
-3 billion live on under two dollars a day.
-1.3 billion have no access to clean water.
-3 billion have no access to sanitation.
-2 billion have no access to electricity.
-A mere 12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 percent of its water, and these 12 percent do not live in the Third World.
-The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the poorest 48 nations (i.e. a quarter of the world’s countries) is less than the wealth of the world’s three richest people combined.
-Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
-20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the world’s goods.
-According to UNICEF, 30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”
-Nearly 800 million people do not get enough food, and about 500 million people are chronically malnourished. More than a third of children are malnourished.
-Of the world’s 23 million people living with HIV/AIDS more than 93% live in developing countries.
-More than 840 million adults are illiterate - 538 million of them are women.
-Around 2 million children died as a result of armed conflict in the last decade.
-110 million landmines lie undetonated in 68 countries.
-Modern-day slavery, involving victims who are forced into labor or sexual exploitation is about 800,000 people -- mostly women and children – who are trafficked across national borders which does not count millions trafficked within their own countries.
-Six countries can spend $ 700 million in nine days on dog and cat food.
-Effective debt relief to the 20 poorest countries would cost $ 5.5 billion - equivalent to the cost of building EuroDisney.
-Today’s world spend $ 92 billion on junkfood, $ 66 billion on cosmetics and nearly $ 800 billion in 1995 for defense expenditure.
-There is plenty of food in the world, the problem is that those who have are not distributing it properly. Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger and the large majority of those victims are under the age of 5.

Hang on….”I NEED to go stand in line at Wal-mart and get a new XBOX 360, because I can get it for only $500.”

And I am thinking…What is wrong with this picture?

We live in a world where people get angry over the things that don’t matter and don’t get angry about the things that do matter. Perhaps it is time for the church to be come angry about the things that GOD is angry about.

I wonder….does GOD do McDonalds?