Rethinking Faith: Christianity as a Business, God in Broken Places, and Simple Gospel Truth

Here in February let's question Christianity being run as a business, explore finding God in our broken places, and ponder simple gospel truths.

Rethinking Faith: February 2024

Welcome to the February issue of Rethinking Faith. This month we will question the ways Christianity is often turned into a capitalistic business venture, explore a beautiful book that invites us to experience God’s presence during difficult days, and ponder the simple truth of Jesus’ gospel.

How Has Evangelicalism Turned into a Capitalistic Business Venture?

I know that this is probably naive, but I never thought to question the American capitalistic system until my husband got a job in the corporate level of a company. I’d heard that capitalism was a good thing my entire life. I thought it provided opportunity and helped to serve the American Dream. I’m still not totally against it, and I’m not exactly a socialist. Every system has it’s own problems. (By the way, there aren’t only two sides—despite what our polarized society tells us.) But I have seen the ugly reality through my husband’s stories. We are both a bit horrified at how blissfully higher level employees blow money while the people actually doing the hard work struggle. The system is broken.

Photo by Sean Pollock

Then I turn to look at the Evangelical Christian Bubble World and I see:

• megachurches (and smaller churches) being run like corporations with CEOs instead of shepherds.

• churches and organizations unwilling to deal with blatant abuse and sin because it will affect their budget.

• believers following influencers and Christian celebrities who are pursuing fame and fortune instead of humble faithfulness.

• the Christian media industry (books, movies, and music) that is run an awful lot like the secular media industry with money as the goal.

• the many Christian leaders who have gotten caught up with pursing the spotlight.

• a overly zealous involvement in politics—believing that forcing the world to follow certain rules will make them come to Jesus.

I was already frustrated, but then I saw a post by someone I used to follow when they were just a pastor’s wife writing Bible studies. Now they are big time famous and were doing a give-a-way to promote their new book. The give-a-way was worth $5,000. It felt gross. I ranted to my husband. “This is over the top. It’s no longer about Jesus. It’s about money and ugly capitalism.” I don’t necessarily blame this author, but I do think they might be listening to the wrong people.

I have many other unfortunate examples I could share.

I could tell you about a architectural company that works with churches, but always encourages bigger and fancier instead of ordinary and humble. The budget usually grows in excessive ways and sometimes the projects fail instead of being completed. They could have been simple, beautiful, and significantly less money. But that’s not how this company works, because they’ve bought into the lie.

I could tell you about churches where it’s known that the head pastor is verbally abusive and controlling, but no one will do anything about it because the fallout would tear the church apart and ruin their reputation. So they just keep letting people be nearly destroyed and leave in tatters instead.

Photo by Shaun Frankland

I wish these were isolated instances, but they aren’t. Each of you reading this probably has multiple scenarios playing through your own head where ugly American capitalism, and the worship of money, fame, and prosperity have become more important than sharing and living the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I’m sickened by it. It breaks my heart, and I refuse to be part of it as an author or podcaster. I told Jesus that the other day. As news of yet another pastor caught in sexual sin broke, and as his Christian influencer wife found her world turned upside down, I thanked God that I’m still relatively unknown.

And I decided that I will not play the game no matter what. I will be faithful and obscure. I will walk through open doors, but I will not try to force any of them open. I will follow Jesus and His quiet, radical, backwards example. I want to be part of His Kingdom, not try and create my own.

Are you with me?

“I never meant to be a writer. But twelve years ago, when our little world fell down and life felt tenuous at best, the page became a place where I met Jesus—where He and I dug through all the hard, the tear-stained, and (often) the utterly ridiculous pieces of our lives.” ~ Sara Cormany, Even When

I’m not usually a devotional person these days. And I’m definitely skeptical of people who try to speak Christian words during our heartbroken, painful seasons of life. But I’ve cried my way through the first half of this beautiful little book by Sara Cormany. She is someone who has experienced loss and heartache firsthand and writes about it in a gentle and kind way.

Sara has felt raw grief, had dreams crushed, and lived with the frustration of chronic illness. Her book is not simplistic or trite. It’s not Christianese. She doesn’t give pat answers or attempt to spiritually bypass. But she does love Jesus. She believes in the reality of His Presence. And Sara shares pieces of her own story, along with Scripture verses, questions, and prayers in forty short, easy to read devotionals.

This is a book that I can get behind, and one I hope will encourage you too. You can order Even When here on Amazon.

What if believers gathered around the simple truth of the gospel instead of fighting about convictions, preferences, and theological differences?

I am increasingly certain that much of modern American Christianity is missing the true and simple gospel of Jesus. We’ve mixed it up, added to it, focused on the wrong things, and as a result, we have lost the power of this humble truth: Jesus came to restore our relationship with God.

Author and speaker Dr. David Bennett put it perfectly in an interview recently speaking about the LGBTQ community and the church. He said, “I think we need to preach the gospel again. We’ve lost that message. You are justified by faith. You are justified because you have this connection to Jesus that has come by faith. And that’s a gift and not something we can earn. And we come back to that as the foundation of everything.”

Photo by Thanti Riess

My understanding of the gospel has changed over the years. And I hope it continues to grow and change. I used to think of the gospel in terms of behaviors. I thought it was about being sinful and then forgiven, but now I see it as far more than that. We’ve been freely forgiven for a reason. And it’s not just about being good.

Jesus came for our restoration. His gospel is about reconnection to our Creator, to our fellow humans, and to our own broken hearts. What if we focused on the free gift of life He longs to give us? What if we allowed the Holy Spirit to restore us in a way that reconnects our relationships and draws us together as a true body of Christ? What if we united around this truth instead of being divided by our differences?

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As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts, questions, or comments. You can find me on Threads, Instagram, Facebook, my website, and on my podcast Looking for the Real God. I’d love to connect with you on any of these places!

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