"Melting Down Plastic People"

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Today I guest posted over at We Got Real about melting down "plastic people" in the church. It sure is easy to put on a façade when we walk through the church doors, but what does the Bible say about being real with the body of Christ?

We hear it all the time: “I don’t go to church because those people are hypocrites!” We think, “Oh, they don’t understand. We are misrepresented by a few who go to church but aren’t really following Christ.” And while that is often the case, do you ever look around the pews and think, “these people are so fake!”? Or, even worse, know that you are not real with your brothers and sisters you worship with each Sunday?

Those of us who reside in the United States live in a very private and individualistic culture. Even in the South where people are more hospitable, we are overall a “cold climate culture” (task-oriented) rather than a “hot-climate culture” (relationship-based). In most “hot-climate cultures” there is a group mentality. People live in community –they share their food, private lives, homes, etc. Their mentality is that what’s yours is mine and what is mine is yours. Sadly this is not the norm in our Western Culture and definitely not in most American churches.

Be sure to check out the rest of the post here for 5 ways we can strive to live in real community with other believers.