Vol. 3, No. 9 April 11^th, 2004

Part-Time Christians

Written By

Christopher Mentzer

In a comic strip of a denominational magazine, they showed a preacher greeting a couple after services. The caption read something like, “You know were opened more than two Sundays a year.” A lot of people will attend worship service today, it being called Easter. And a majority of those same people will not be seen again until Christmas. These people are referred to as “C and E Christians”.

The main reason these people only attend services twice a year is that their church tells them that they need only take communion (Lord’s Supper) two times a year to be considered a member of that congregation. That statement, though true, cheapens the memorial of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to nothing more than a Membership Drive!

Now suppose you ask these people: Why not attend work only two days a year, or go to school only two days a year, or pay bills only two days a year? They of course would think you’re crazy and would respond, “I’ll lose my job!” “I won’t be properly educated” “I’ll lose my house, my car…etc”. So why does no one say, “I’ll lose my soul if I only attend services twice a year”?

Becoming a Christian is a lifestyle. It’s not a suit you put on every Sunday Morning and then take it off in the afternoon and store in your closet. Christians do not “Go To Church”; they are in the church 24 hours a day, seven days a week! When one is baptized they are added to the church (Acts 2: 41, 47), which is the body of Christ (Eph. 1: 22-23; Col. 1: 18).

The building itself is not the church but a location for the congregation to come together to worship (Heb. 10: 24-25; Rom. 14: 17: John 4: 24). It’s the people that are the church (1 Peter 2:9; 2 Thess 2: 14).

The purpose of the Lord’s Supper is a memorial taken every first day to proclaim the Lord’s death (1 Cor. 11: 23-26; Acts 20: 7). This has never been used to establish membership.

Satan has a motto: “Let sleeping saints lie.” He doesn’t have a problem with you becoming a Christian just as long it doesn’t interfere with the rest of your life. He allows you a small dose of Christianity just so you look like a Christian, talk and act like a Christian but haven’t fully given your life over to the Lord. Denominational churches are full of such people and they don’t even know it. They whole-heartedly accept those who only show up twice a year. They are not scorned for their decision but gently told they should attend service more often. None of them know the whole truth for it does not show love to rebuke them even though Jesus himself rebuked people often.

“Buy the truth, and sell it not; `Yea', wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.” (Proverbs 23: 23) “Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed him, If ye abide in my word, `then' are ye truly my disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8: 31-32)

If you purposefully attend worship services twice a year, you can’t call yourself a Christian. If you call yourself something of a denominational title, you can’t call yourself a Christian. Easter, Christmas and other “church seasons” were not celebrated nor recognized by the New Testament apostles. Neither should we.