Zombie Churches

I recently read an article where a guy was talking about having zombies in church. I would normally throw that away without giving it another thought because it's so absurd, but I decided to read on and to my surprise the article was excellent and made some very good points about church. There are some zombie churches among us. Zombie churches are where genuine Christian life has been lost and in its place we find something scary and lifeless. The zombies of film and literature are moving corpses that imitate life. Know as the living dead many times, zombies act like they are alive, but they are not. While zombie churches might not look any different from healthy churches, they are missing one key ingredient: life.

We know that Jesus is the source of life. When we are disconnected from Jesus and what He is doing in the world around us, we become disconnected from life. Just because a church loses its connection with Christ doesn't mean it closes its doors.

Think of zombie churches as churches that have been infected. They are contagious. Instead of offering people a real, transforming relationship with the Creator of the universe, they offer hollow rituals and pointless routines. The motions seem right, but something is missing.

Zombie churches have been infected with unbiblical mindsets, traditions, rules, regulations, and rituals. When such things become more important than the growth of God's Kingdom, then problems ensue. Then the church is more about us than it should be, it's because we've removed Jesus from the center and placed ourselves there instead. When this happens among individuals we call it selfishness. When it happens corporately in a church it becomes toxic.

Here are some warning signs that a church fellowship might be going the way of the zombie:

A zombie church worships idols. An idol is anything we treat as more important than God. As vital as communion, baptism, service, prayer, and worship are, we cannot elevate any of these above God himself. God is to be highest and best and the main focus of the church. This is God's church and He should be the only one worshiped in His church. We need to maintain a high view of God and be sure to lift Him up only.

A zombie church guards its rules and rituals. Traditions are not evil, but when traditions exist simply for the sake of tradition, it is likely a result of a church’s attempt to compensate or appease some people. When our personal relationship with God deteriorates, we often try to fill the void with religious practices so we still feel "connected to the divine." However, you know as well as I do that these rituals are often trite and give us a false sense of connection to God when we are really just feeling nostalgic.

A zombie church lacks intimacy among its members. People in some churches are friendly, but they do not provide a true community that offers a safe place for believers to grow, learn, fall down, repent, get up, and support each other. Community is key for a healthy church.

A zombie church has an inward focus. It’s important to take care of the church family. Members of Christ-centered communities support and encourage each other. The danger comes not when this happens, but when this is all that happens. Christians encourage and support one another not so we will feel better about ourselves, but so we will be better able to go into the world and show people the love of Jesus.

A zombie church focuses on human involvement rather than divine activity. It emphasizes works and personal effort rather than grace. We need to sense where God is already moving and join Him in that work. Our salvation is not about what we do; it’s about what Jesus has done for us. Good deeds happen as a response of our changed lives in Christ, an evidence of our salvation.