The church, coming from the Greek word ekklesia, is a gathering of the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not a building, but a people who come together to worship and adore the King of kings and the Lord of lords who lived, died, and rose again from the grave, to reign forevermore.
One thing that's wrong with some of our churches, however, is that instead of being a gathering, or a body, of people who worship the Lord Jesus Christ, we've become a group of people who worship men in the name of Jesus.
In short, many of our churches today have become man-centered churches. This is wrong and should not be!
When man becomes central to the church
In this article we'll talk about some signs that a church has become man-centered. While it is true that God loved us so much that He gave His one and only begotten Son to die on the cross for our sakes, He remains God above us. That never changes.
Many of us, however, fail to see signs of man-centeredness in the church. We must know that once humanism takes center stage in the church, Christ is deposed and the worship of Him becomes fake and mere lip-service, to the glory of man.
God doesn't want us worshipping man. And so here are a few signs of a man-centered church where Christ is not worshipped and the will of man is given the utmost importance.
1) A man-centered Gospel
Ever heard of a Gospel where man has become the center of God's universe? Like God was so obsessed with us that He became sad in heaven because we were separated from Him and then in order to have us He had to chase us like some crazed man desperate for love?
Well, apparently, that's how some present the Gospel today. There's no sin, no hell, just a love-starved God desperate to have humans love Him back.
That's just wrong.
God didn't need us. He is complete in Himself. He wasn't lonely and will never ever feel lonely.
He Himself said in Psalm 50:12,
"If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness."
Thankfully, this complete God who owns everything had mercy on us sinful humans who, truthfully, had no means of saving ourselves.
Our sins gave us a one-way ticket to eternal death in hell, but God had mercy on us and made the way for us to be saved from that:
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)
He saw us in our eternally pitiful state and decided to rescue us from sin through His means, motivated by nothing but His love:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
Now who are we to say otherwise?
2) Pastors or leaders are treated like celebrities (with special attributes even), and people are taught that blessings will come by blessing them
Ever went to a church where the pastor's name, ministry, anointing, gifts, sermons, and all that is related to him/her is brandished like it's a gate pass to heaven or a ticket to blessing?
If you have, then you know what I mean.
The words of the Lord Jesus Christ best describes this:
"But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.'" (Matthew 23:5-7)
Man-centered churches emphasize man's accomplishments too much. While it's good to recognize those who labor among us (see 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13), we must never minimize God in favor of the pastor or whoever is leading the ministry, to the point of idolizing them.
At times, there are teachings that emphasize blessing the man of God so that blessings could flow back to the one who blesses. While sowing and reaping is a Biblical principle, using such a principle to convince people that "God will give them the desires of their heart" is just so wrong.
3) Church members blindly follow their leaders
The members of such churches follow their leaders without checking Scripture. They follow their leaders blindly, choosing to ignore even the most obvious of errors especially when it comes to doctrine.
Paul spoke very strongly against the leaders of such people, and also spoke strongly to the people who allowed such deceiving leaders to fool them with a false Gospel:
"Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me. For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!" (2 Corinthians 11:1-5)
