From the pulpits and through church bulletins Christians in our city get a steady diet of food, fun and frolic as if the kingdom of God were eating and drinking. Church sponsored skating parties, banquets, ball teams, colleges, homes for the aged, negligent children, and unwed mothers, youth camps which appeal to young people because of the social and recreational  side of it are emphasized.  Added to all this is the constant pressure for money to feed all these projects and more which are devised by men who know more about promoting than they do about preaching.  One would think the sum total of the gospel is brick and mortar, social and physical needs. Brethren are awakening to the fact that churches are becoming little more than money raising agencies for the projects of men, and are growing a little weary. People are starved for the plain teaching of the gospel!
   One preacher said it for all when he said to another preacher, “I wish I could move to a place and just preach the gospel and would not have to promote these various projects.”  Many seem to think the religion of Christ is a social religion; his word is a social gospel; the church a social club.  By observing  the trend, one gets  the idea that the church is recreational, commercial, a court of domestic relations, that psychology, sociology and such related subjects are its task. It is to opinion of many that like Israel of old we have a passion for “spacious building” (Hosea 8:14) and that too much is going for buildings with our comfort and pleasure in mind, whereas the work of preaching the gospel in many areas is suffering; that pride is being satisfied at the expense of our mission and we are putting our money into mortar rather that mortals.
    With bigger and more elaborate church buildings have come the need for more employees to maintain them; for there is included the day nursery, complete modern kitchen, recreational facilities, etc. Much of the Lords money is spent to maintain unauthorized practices to satisfy the lust of the flesh rather than pleasing God.
    We try to rival denominations on their level. We try to build buildings as large as the denominations, put everything in the buildings the denominations have, try to have as many church supported
as they, and have resorted to their cheap “gimmicks’ to get a crowd which appeals to carnal heart of man.
    Popular entertainers, accomplished athletes, greased pig chases, noted lecturers, Doctors of Divinity, internationally known evangelists, college presidents, “dynamic, scintillating” speakers, etc. have become the drawing power, and gospel has been relegated to a subordinate position and one is made to wonder, who are the apostles and who is Christ. In rivaling the denominations we have become like them and have lost our distinctiveness.  When we become like the nations around us, we lose the battle.
    All of these things are but the product of the materialistic mind?. “The ethical doctrine that consideration of material well being, especially of the individual himself, should rule in the determination of conduct. The tendency  to give undue importance to material interest. Not spiritual, but physical; tangible, physical existence.”  Self centeredness, selfishness are a part of “materialism.”
    The materialistic concept of the church has contributed to the alienation of brethren, and a covering up of God’s spiritual guide post. Being desirous of having something tangible, something we can see and feel and boast about to the world, we try to bring that which is spiritual down to the material and in so doing chaos is the result.
    God help us to become more spiritual minded and to possess the courage to be diligent in restoring the church to its rightful place. It is a spiritual institution designed for the benefit of the soul, not a glorified social club in which the fleshly side of man is satisfied.