It takes a certain amount of condescension to write a post like this, but in the pursuit of honesty and with the humility that I am talking about myself as much as anyone else, I offer this: most Christians are phoning it in. Wesley talked about “almost and altogether” Christians; Thomas Kelly spoke of those Christians willing to follow Christ half-way but not the other half. Many monks, mystics, nuns, and spiritual elite write of the ongoing struggle of giving all to God, but I am talking something much more ubiquitous and insidious, redefining Christianity by its lowest possible standards, setting the spiritual bar so low that we have to dig downward in order to step over it.

One of my last research studies for the General Board of Discipleship was on the spiritual practices of congregational leaders, both clergy and lay. The findings were so dismal and depressing that the powers that be at the time forbid me to share the research. In a nutshell, most pastors have almost no devotional life apart from their “profession.” They read the Bible to prepare sermons and Sunday school lessons, they pray publicly, they serve when they lead, and they explain that they are simply too busy to be bothered with their own discipleship. Lay people are in the same boat, but those who have a devotional life tend toward a very superficial, simplistic, conservative perspective. The majority of lay leaders in United Methodist Churches at the time could not name the four gospels, identify which books came from the Old Testament, the New Testament, or the Apocrypha, and they had little or no knowledge of Wesleyan teachings or theology.

My assessment at the time (this was the early 2000s) was that modern American Christians had allowed one “ship” to dominate at the cost of the other two “ships.” Almost 80% of the people in the study said that attending and participating in worship was “very important” (51%) or “important” (29%). Only 17% said “spiritual formation for a vital discipleship” was “very important,” while another 31% said it was “important.” In a denomination whose mission is “making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world,” less than 50% of the leadership feels that discipleship is important. Regarding the third “ship,” stewardship, 10% (a tithe?) felt that “outward expressions of mercy, justice, and service” are very important for the Christian life, while an addition 23% said they are “important.” One-third of Christian leaders view stewardship as essential to a holistic and altogether Christian witness. Jesus wept. (On a side note, almost a third of those surveyed and interviewed did not understand how “outward expressions of mercy, justice, and service” had anything to do with “stewardship.”

Don’t get me wrong. Worship is important. But worship is the corporate celebration of growing disciples learning to live their Christian stewardship day-to-day out in the world. It should be the capstone of our week rather than the launch. And it really shouldn’t be so much about us as it is about God. It is in small learning and sharing groups that our faith is formed, strengthened, improved, and perfected. Not much learning and testing go on in weekly worship. It is almost impossible for the lifelong learning imperative of the Christian faith to be fulfilled in an occasional hour on a Sunday morning (or other designated hour during the week).

Then, the purpose of our relationship to God in Christ, to BE the body of Christ in the world – serving, teaching, aiding, comforting, leading, healing, holding accountable – is evidenced in our stewardship – the way we put our discipleship into practice. If these three “ships” are not kept in a tight and kinetic balance, we cannot be Christian, only Christianish. And as we defend and promote this watered down, out of whack, shadow Christianity as the norm, we insult the Holy Spirit – the one unforgiveable sin according to Jesus (Luke 12:10).

Once-a-week (if we are lucky and deeply committed), mostly passive (sit and watch/listen), feel encouraged worship is simply not enough, though it defines the “Christian life” for a majority of churched Americans. The reason so many of us sit back and watch all kinds of Satanic, evil, corrupt, violent, prejudiced, and hostile actions by those self-proclaiming “faithful Christians,” is that we simply do not know or believe any better. No faithful Christian should be okay with lying, stealing, cheating, murdering, mocking, hateful, name-calling, aggressive and contentious behaviors being displayed by so many leaders who defend themselves as “Christian.” This definition of “Christian” can only stand by sinking the ships of discipleship and stewardship, but then, it is no longer Christian…

There are so many things to distract us from God, from discerning God’s will, from doing God’s will. This doesn’t seem to prevent us from judging and accusing and condemning and violating, all in the name of Jesus. Every time someone based an argument on “keeping the Commandments,” my default response was to simply ask, “And how do you spend your Sabbath each week?”

We have become a faith of the lowest common denominators. Is it any wonder that “nones” are the fastest growing spiritual segment of the United States religious landscape? Is it any wonder that we have lost all credibility with so many critics and opponents? Are we simply proving James to be right, “faith without works is dead?” We need to speak out more, to tie our actions and behaviors to our core values grounded in our faith. We need to allow our deepest convictions to drive our decisions, and our choices should reflect core Christian values. I need to do better. I invite you to consider ways we all can be better and balance the three ships of the Christian fleet.