Do We Have a Burger King Mindset About Church?

For years Burger Kind has had the slogan “Have it your way at Burger King.”  It's was their way of saying you can come into their place and ask for your burger to be made anyway you want it made.  You can leave off anything they usually put on it and even add extra of the things you really like.  And Burger King is not alone in this mindset as most restaurants have the same policy because they tell their employees, “the customer is always right.”

But this philosophy has bled into our modern churches where if people don’t like what they hear or don’t like how it was said, they feel they either have the right to go straighten the preacher out or they just leave because there is another church across town that is more to “their style” of ministry.  These kind of people don’t get it “their way” so they react negatively.

But is this biblical?

Let me clearly state that if false doctrine is being preached we ARE to first humbly speaking directly to the source of the seemingly doctrinal error (Galatians 2:6-21) and hopefully either have them explain our error or recant of their's.  But if the error teacher refuses to back down and clearly it is doctrinal error then we are commanded to take another 1 or 2 people with us (1 Timothy 5:17-20) and confront them about the error.  It is only then after should we withdraw ourselves from the church if they refuse to correct the error (1 Timothy 6:3-5).  The withdrawing of 1 Timothy 6:5 means either the church removes the one teaching the error (Romans 16:17) or we remove ourself from that church if the church fails to confront the error.  

However, NO WHERE in scripture does it say its okay to just walk away from a church we are members of, which seems to be the common practice today.  There are those who say they don’t want to cause trouble so they just leave, but if the error is biblically based doctrine then they should be “causing trouble” over the error and if it’s not doctrinal error they should NOT be having a major problem in the first place.

For perspective here are a few of the reasons I have been given through the years here at Valley for people leaving our church:

1. We preached against things such as popular books, television, and false teachers which clearly teach doctrine contrary to God’s doctrine.
2. In one family’s opinion our church did not help them enough when they had a financial need even though we took multiple love offerings.
3. We don’t allow non-members to participate in our member’s only activities, IE business meetings, teaching classes, singing in choir, etc.
4. We did not give a good enough explanation of why we wanted to buy a property next to our building.
5. We have too Sunday School classes, nurseries,  and youth group activities, because those things divides the family at church.
6. We don’t have enough Sunday School classes, nurseries, and youth group activities like the other churches in the area.
7. We don’t have a Christian school.
8. We don’t have enough homeschool activities.
9. We don’t reach into the public schools enough.
10. The pastor, me in this case, doesn’t visit his people enough.
11. The pastor, still me, visits too much when people haven’t asked for the visit.
12. We “force” people to soul win.
13. We don’t soul win enough.
14. We are too patriotic by having an American flag at the front.
15. We don't honor our country enough.
16. We don’t have enough elders.
17. We have too high standards, such as dress and music.
18. We are compromisers on our standards.
19. We have too many activities that people are expected to come to.
20. Well….I think you get the idea.

People have a free will and I know that they will usually believe they are acting on what is right.  But I am so glad that my family members do not just walk away from each other when they have a problem with each other and maybe that’s the key to the issue of the church.  The church should be seen more like a family than a Burger King.  You won’t always get it your way in a family or church and that’s okay.   You should be dedicated enough to love the people in that family or church and learn to allow your desires to be second place (1 Corinthians 6:7).  Just remember, if you want it your way, all the time…go to Burger King.  They will gladly charge you for having it your way every time you want!