My good friend and business partner Mark, has a blog. When it first got started I seriously wondered if he was losing his marbles, because his experiences were no where near what other worshippers seemed to experience. But, over two years later, I still read his posts, because his views and testimonies are as much about community, people and doing Good Things, as they are about God. At least, that’s what I think. Now, when I read Mark’s posts, I often think “wow!”, “cool”. And remember, I’m a predominantly secular guy.

I continue to wonder how many of those that attend church just do it out of convention and social expectation. I also wonder how many of these people have the same experiences as Mark and his family does, or those described in related and connected blogs.

Because, I feel that if the answer to this latter question is “not many”, then religion has merely become a social club. And that’s simply not good enough. It’s probably no coincidence that as I write this post, Mark relates this quote:

If you Christians really believed just one tenth of what you profess, then you’d be at least ten times more excited than you are.

..and then comes up with this view, which is fantastic, brave, and which I completely agree with. And remember, I’m a predominantly secular guy.

One of the things I have learnt in the past few years is to be passionate about everything I do. And I want everyone else to be passionate about what they do. Do I ever see church leaders really excited? No. More often, they’ll spout some political rhetoric then disappear off my TV screen. Worship programmes are confined to Sunday mornings, often dumbing down obvious social issues and giving them a thin religious coating. It’s all so timid; so intellectual. So, you religious guys, where’s the passion gone?

Consider, for a moment, that church leaders are salesmen. They sell a product that can change lives and save people. But people aren’t buying it. In any conventional business, they’d get fired. And there’s no use blaming the product, because there’s nothing wrong with the product.

So, what prompted me to write this? To be honest, it’s been brooding for some months, but I saw an advertisement in the Ottawa Citizen last Saturday that surprised me and spurred me on. This newspaper has a couple of churches advertising, in a predictably subdued fashion, but near the front of the newspaper comes this:

That’s the “buy this, or else!” approach. Mmm.. that’ll work.