The Psychology of Church

Greetings, one and all. I haven't written in quite some time, but I haven't had anything useful to say. I've been writing off and on, but most of it has not been polished enough to publish. Writing is fun and cathartic, so I've been meaning to write some. Now I have a subject that's at least mildly interesting, so I'm back.

My current church is a Vineyard church. "Vineyard" isn't really a denomination. Rather, they refer to themselves as "a community of churches" - just a group of people following Jesus as best as we can, together. This is reflected in our church motto of "Reach up [to God], reach in [to your community], then reach out [to the world around us]". First we want God to change our lives, which is enabled by living in close community with other Christians. Only after that do we have room in our lives to reach out to the fallen world around us. One (new to me) attribute of the Vineyard church is a greater emphasis on the present and continuing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The way Pastor Jay puts it is that most Christians today, while intellectually and theologically acknowledging that God is trinitarian (three entities), live day-to-day as though God were binitarian (two entities).

You know people and I know people who go to church on Sunday and are "good Christians". They read the Bible, they pray, and all that good stuff. They'll go to heaven when they die, hopefully show Jesus to some people along the way, but their lives are pretty routine. Let's call these people Group A.

Another recurring theme of my church is that when God shows up, things get messy. If you read the New Testament or any part of the Bible really, God doesn't call us to be boring. John 10 says that Jesus came "that we might have life, and have it abundantly". Not that we would just survive the daily grind. The Pharisees, they had their thing down. Follow the rules and everything will be in its nice neat box. Jesus came and chastised them because they had lost sight of God to follow rules. Jesus was pretty "weird". He partied at sinner's houses. He told people weird things. And it turned some people off, to be honest.

Remember those good church people I was just talking about? What do you think would happen if Jesus showed up at their church and just started, say, healing people. "Hey you, with the back problem. Do you want to be healed? Come down here. Sir, I know you have been looking at porn on the Internet. Stop. Now. Go and don't do it ever again." And He goes on: "Ma'am, you've been called to minister in this or that area. Start now." I think you would agree that all these things I've just mentioned are good things: healing, breaking addictions, receiving calling in your life. And yet, what a scene it would be.

I'm sure we've all also heard about those weird charismatic or Pentecostal people. People "slain in the Spirit", suddenly speaking out in tongues, and weird stuff like that. I think that the popular image is that they're off their nut. These things don't really happen, they're just faking it. Stupid people just looking for attention, you know. Let's call this Group B.

My church is somewhere in the middle. We are "empowered evangelicals", which means that we have a solid Biblical theology grounding, notably including the fact that God can and does work in people's lives today, sometimes in unexpected ways. Every week in church, we make time to pray for people who need it. Sometimes people are given visions or words for specific people or specific needs. These revelations are shared so others can pray that God's work would be done.

My ex-girlfriend was a very cut-and-dried person, sometimes more than I. Neither of us were raised in charismatic churches, and both being science majors, sometimes we're hard to convince. I've been attending Arvada Vineyard for about a year now, and I've gotten used to weird things happening in church sometimes. Andie came to my church a few times, and notced a some things that I had gotten used to. Being new to the Vineyard, she was skeptical that we were "for real". It definitely made me re-evaluate things I had taken for granted.

This last weekend, I attended a retreat as part of our "Discovering Community" program. To avoid giving excessive detail, I will quickly summarize by saying it was a pretty intense time. We spent an extended amount of time in prayer and waiting on the work of the Holy Spirit. Later, we compared stories as a group and praised God for the good things He had done, omitted here for brevity. In the past year I've both seen and experienced the Holy Spirit laying on people almost as a physical sensation. Of the more visible gifts commonly believed to have ceased with the completion of the Biblical canon (prophecy, tongues, and healing), I have seen all three and used one. While there is always room for human-introduced error, the conclusion has always been that they were legitimate manifestations of the Holy Spirit.

There are a lot of people in this world who are looking for something to believe in. There are also people in this world looking to take advantage of gullible people. This arrangement leads to horoscopes and so-called psychics offering their services and taking in people. Some would suggest that people who claim to experience God are just suggestible. It's just the pastor, you know. He leads them on and tricks them. He's after their wallet, you know. If Jay says he thinks God wants to heal someone's health problem, for instance, it's just odds that someone in the room will have that exact problem. It's not God, it's just chance.

It reminds me a little of a discussion in my old church many years ago. One traditional order of service in the church is to have music first, then the preaching, then take an offering. Well, some people said that it was a little manipulative. You know, the music gets people's blood flowing and minds engaged, then the preacher takes advantage of their heightened awareness to lay some guilt on them. After that, people should be so "convicted" that they give money to the church. It's all about the money, remember. (That's sarcasm, if you haven't figured it out yet) Instead, there should be no possibility that people responding to the preaching are just on an "endorphin rush" from the music. Let's have the preaching first, so the people who come to church ready to listen and learn actually benefit the most. All that feel-good music stuff can come afterwards, after the sermon, since the preaching is the real meat of the service. The other stuff (except prayer, which is always appropriate) is pretty much filler. We do things different. We start with worship songs, then church announcements, then Jay gets up to preach. The service closes with ministry time and usually one more worship song.

This reasoning is partly based on sheer practicality. Starting with worship allows people to trickle in slightly late while not missing a whole lot of the service. Having ministry time at the end is good because it allows for people who don't need ministry to just leave, while those who do can stay. However, there are sound spiritual reasons too. Starting with worship allows people to come in and shed the burdens they've accumulated over the course of the week. It allows me to refocus my thoughts on why I come to church and who God is to me. As to ministering to people last, people may not know that they need ministry before they're convicted by the message.

Do you see the similarities in these two comparisons (people feeling the Holy Spirit after hearing a suggestion and a worship service ordered for maximum impact)? There are spiritual reasons for both events, but there are equally good reasons that may completely omit God's work. It all boils down to two choices. Maybe we're all deceived. Our feelings have totally run away with us. The church leaders are engineering a grand deception and we have all been suckered right in. If I'm crying because I'm being prayed for powerfully, it's just because I don't have my act together yet or I'm just a weak person. The people who claim to have been healed supernaturally were either faking the illness or are faking the healing. On the occasions that I've been (accurately) prophesied over, it's just been either a lucky guess or I've just adapted the prophecy in my mind as necessary so it fits my life.

The other possibility is that it's all true. Our service has been optimized both for practicality and because it maximizes its spiritual impact. People really do feel the Holy Spirit, and God really does still to miraculous things in people's lives today.

With our problem set up, and two alternative hypotheses proposed, let's briefly look at some evidence to support either hypothesis. First of all, I have come to believe more and more that God has made us as integrated beings. Body, soul, and spirit are woven together more intricately than we think. Why not use theologically-sound psychology to optimize our worship? We use physiology for this - if the chairs aren't comfortable, people aren't going to come. We don't say that church is only for the "real Christians" that can put up with uncomfortable seating. Why should we discriminate against people who may need some worship time alone with God to listen better?

Another piece of evidence would be changed lives. If there's just a "Jesus high" that people get on by being manipulated by skillful preachers, then there probably won't be any lasting impact in their lives. They'll continue being the same people they were, broken and ugly. Again, this seems to be a fallacy. I have heard people testify to how their lives were messed up and broken and how they have been healed. Of course, this could all be a lie, which leads me to my next point...

...which is simple authenticity. If it was all just a big shell game, then all the folks who are on stage are probably different in "real life". They have to be "good examples" when they lead, but not any other time. Again, I'll call this one false. I've had the opportunity to interact with our church leaders in a variety of situations, and it sure seems like they're honest to who and how God has made them to be. It's not a front when they're on stage, it's who they really are.

All this so-called evidence is circumstantial. I recognize this. You can rationalize it away if you want. Maybe I'm naive. Maybe I just haven't seen the people in my church be totally real. You know what, though? I've made my decision. I choose to follow this path. I may be deceived, and it may all be just a shadow-world. However, in the words of C.S. Lewis's Puddleglum when speaking to a witch who claims that the world he has experienced is just a fraud,

---

"One word. All you've been saying is quite right, I shouldn't wonder. I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face on it. I won't deny any of what you said. But there's one more thing to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things - trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world that licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia."

---

I choose to live like a Holy Spirit-filled Christian. Even if there isn't a Holy Spirit, or if He doesn't work in our lives today (which I have strong evidence that He does), and even if I've just played into the hands of some twisted master conspiracy, I choose to live this way. Why? Because never before in my life have I felt as free, as loved, and as valued as I do when I've been held in God's arms. Because even if it's an illusion, it's a good one, and so help me God, I will spend the rest of my life pursuing it. It seems that most people have an addiction. I've chosen mine - Jesus and His love.

That's my choice. What will you choose?