{"id":6583,"date":"2012-04-23T10:53:28","date_gmt":"2012-04-23T15:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/?p=6583"},"modified":"2012-04-23T10:53:28","modified_gmt":"2012-04-23T15:53:28","slug":"taking-a-sabbatical-from-church-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/taking-a-sabbatical-from-church-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking A Sabbatical From Church – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Last week I proposed the idea that lay people should be allowed and encouraged to take a sabbatical from regular church\u00a0attendance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Having allowed that idea (along with your feedback ) to marinate in my mind over the weekend, there are several things I thought I would elaborate on from that first post and explore in more depth. Some of these follow up posts will be longer than others, but since \u201ctaking a sabbatical from church\u201d isn\u2019t the most conventional of ideas, I think it is important to flesh idea the many idea, issues, and assumptions behind such a proposal.<\/p>\n

The first is an underlying assumption behind the post that I did not articulate originally, but should have.<\/p>\n

I am convinced that the phenomena of people getting burned out, bored, or frustrated with church, then either abandoning the faith all together or choosing to do something else on their own is a particularly American, or Western phenomena. That\u2019s not to say that we don\u2019t see this happening in other cultures around the world. People everywhere, in every time and in every culture have struggled with their faith. But the luxury of the freedom of religion coupled with a gluttony of ecclesiastical choices creates a spoiled and consumeristic atmosphere in which choosing which church to belong to or whether or not attending church is even something you want to do as \u201cpart of your faith\u201d is a luxury that many Christians around the world simply cannot afford.<\/p>\n

For many of our brothers and sisters in the faith, attending church is something which they must risk their life for. Driven \u201cunderground\u201d by oppressive regimes hostile to Christianity, these Christians overcome their fear of imprisonment and possible death in order to fellowship with other believers. Going to church for these Christians isn\u2019t something they \u201chave to do\u201d every week. It\u2019s something they\u2019re willing to put their lives on the line for because they view the opportunity to fellowship with other believers as one of those moments in which the veil which\u00a0separates\u00a0heaven and earth is torn apart as the kingdom of God grabs a foothold in the here and now.<\/p>\n

That is not to say that the rest of us are lesser Christians or somehow unjustified in our\u00a0ecclesiastical\u00a0burn out.<\/p>\n

The freedom of religion which we enjoy in the United States is a double edged sword. It allows us almost unlimited\u00a0opportunities\u00a0to practice our faith together. As we should, we exploit this freedom. Sometimes, though, I think we exploit that freedom a bit too much.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t meant that we shouldn\u2019t take advantage of every opportunity we can to fellowship with other Christians, particularly if it is true that in those moments we experience kingdom life in the here and now. We should exploit that freedom. However, I\u2019m not sure having church programming almost every night of the week is the type of healthy Christian fellowship the Bible calls us to. Nor do I think that the modern obsession with program driven church is particularly Christian.<\/p>\n

Personally, I find ironic that in our zeal to \u201cget back to the good ole days\u201d of the early church by modeling everything we do off of the New Testament\u2019s account of how the first Christians did church, we somehow miss the fact that the early church usually only got together once a week. We on the other hand, feel it necessary to have \u201cchurch\u201d every Sunday morning (after Sunday School of course), then again on Sunday night, then once more on Wednesday night, and of course no Christian week would be complete without a fellowship activity and possibly an additional Tuesday night prayer meeting just so we make sure we have all of our \u201cAm I A True Christian\u201d boxes checked<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s enough to burn out anyone, including the early church.<\/p>\n

Now, I am not saying that any of those things are\u00a0intrinsically\u00a0bad. Some of them, most of them, are very good things. However, I think that our over emphasis on programming has resulted in people who do a great job being the church inside the four walls of their local parish, but who forget how (or barely even have the opporunity) to be the church in the place where the church is needed the most: the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

This is one of the primary reasons that I think it would be good for all of us to take a sabbatical from regular church attendance. Not so that we can have a lazy vacation and ensure we don\u2019t miss kickoff on Sunday afternoons, but so that we can rediscover what it means to be the church in<\/em> and for<\/em> the world. Christ did not intend for his body to\u00a0retrench\u00a0from the world, shutting itself off from society as it awaits the Second Coming. Christ gave the world the church as a gift, very much in the same way that he gave himself for all mankind. We are called, like our Saviour, to love, serve, and care for all of creation as the vehicle through which all people are drawn back to their Creator.<\/p>\n

Certainly there are many times in which we fail at that mission, but perhaps it is because of that failure that we need a sabbatical from church programming in order to rediscover what it means to truely be the Body of Christ in and for the world.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Grace and peace,<\/p>\n

Zack Hunt<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week I proposed the idea that lay people should be allowed and encouraged to take a sabbatical from regular church\u00a0attendance. Having allowed that idea (along with your feedback ) to marinate in my mind over the weekend, there are several things I thought I would elaborate on from that first post and explore in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":6586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTaking A Sabbatical From Church - Part 2<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Last week I proposed the idea that lay people should be allowed and encouraged to take a sabbatical from regular church\u00a0attendance. Having allowed that\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/taking-a-sabbatical-from-church-part-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Taking A Sabbatical From Church - Part 2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last week I proposed the idea that lay people should be allowed and encouraged to take a sabbatical from regular church\u00a0attendance. Having allowed that\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/taking-a-sabbatical-from-church-part-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-04-23T15:53:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/941\/2012\/04\/sabbatical-part-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zack Hunt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zack Hunt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/taking-a-sabbatical-from-church-part-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/taking-a-sabbatical-from-church-part-2\/\",\"name\":\"Taking A Sabbatical From Church - Part 2\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-04-23T15:53:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-04-23T15:53:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226\"},\"description\":\"Last week I proposed the idea that lay people should be allowed and encouraged to take a sabbatical from regular church\u00a0attendance. Having allowed that\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/taking-a-sabbatical-from-church-part-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/taking-a-sabbatical-from-church-part-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/taking-a-sabbatical-from-church-part-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Taking A Sabbatical From Church – Part 2\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/\",\"name\":\"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt\",\"description\":\"Zack writes about the intersection of faith and politics\u2026and sometimes BBQ.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226\",\"name\":\"Zack Hunt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Zack Hunt\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/author\/zhunt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Taking A Sabbatical From Church - Part 2","description":"Last week I proposed the idea that lay people should be allowed and encouraged to take a sabbatical from regular church\u00a0attendance. Having allowed that","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/taking-a-sabbatical-from-church-part-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Taking A Sabbatical From Church - Part 2","og_description":"Last week I proposed the idea that lay people should be allowed and encouraged to take a sabbatical from regular church\u00a0attendance. Having allowed that","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/taking-a-sabbatical-from-church-part-2\/","og_site_name":"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt","article_published_time":"2012-04-23T15:53:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/941\/2012\/04\/sabbatical-part-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Zack Hunt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Zack Hunt","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/taking-a-sabbatical-from-church-part-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/taking-a-sabbatical-from-church-part-2\/","name":"Taking A Sabbatical From Church - Part 2","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-04-23T15:53:28+00:00","dateModified":"2012-04-23T15:53:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226"},"description":"Last week I proposed the idea that lay people should be allowed and encouraged to take a sabbatical from regular church\u00a0attendance. Having allowed that","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/taking-a-sabbatical-from-church-part-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/taking-a-sabbatical-from-church-part-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/04\/taking-a-sabbatical-from-church-part-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Taking A Sabbatical From Church – Part 2"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/","name":"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt","description":"Zack writes about the intersection of faith and politics\u2026and sometimes BBQ.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226","name":"Zack Hunt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Zack Hunt"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/author\/zhunt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}