The Danger of a "Taco Truck" Christianity

One of the perks of working at my church is the taco truck that parks in the lot across the road. I've lost track of the amount of times I've walked across the street to grab myself a couple $1.50 tacos because I failed to pack myself a lunch. It's quick. It's cheap. It's delicious. And it's very convenient. Sadly though, in America it's far too common to treat Christianity like a "taco truck" experience. We want something that's quick, cheap, and convenient.

Even as a member of a church, it's easy to "go to church" right at the beginning of the Sunday worship service, sit in the back, get your fill on Bible teaching and music, and then slip out right as the pastor closes his prayer with "amen." Occasionally, you'll check in with the Smiths to see pictures of their new grandbaby or tell Miss Betsy how you're praying her after her husband passed away. But your clock is ticking. And you have to get back home to check on the roast or check the score for the football game. If you were really honest, conversations fail to get below "surface level" to deep-rooted joys, sins, and sufferings in yours and the other person's life.

If we were to look at the early church, we would see the exact opposite of "taco truck" Christianity. From the very outset, the early church was a group of people who shared their resources and their lives with each other. Acts 2:46 actually tells us that it was "daily" that the believers were in each other's lives. It doesn't seem like anybody was in a rush to leave, nor did it seem that "church" was resigned to an event Christians went to on Sundays. Everybody was in everybody's business everyday; and the church only continued to grow that way. It was a community in which one could fully know and be fully known by other.

Treating Christianity like a "taco truck" misses the point of what the church is. According to the apostle Paul, the church is the family or "household of God" (Eph. 2:19; 1 Timothy 3:15). That means that Christians are children of God and siblings to each other. As the apostle John shows us, we are commanded to love each other as God loves us (1 Jn. 4:11). This isn't a passive, superficial kind of love. No, this is a deep, "soul-knit-to-soul", "I will be in your business and lay my life down for you" kind of love. You can't experience or give that kind of love if you're quick to leave on Sunday and fail to pursue your brothers and sisters any other time of the week.

Paul also describes the church as a body that grows up together in love (Eph. 4:16). It's a strange metaphor when you think about it but it is powerful. The human body needs the eyes as much as it needs the hands. If an artery is missing or not working right, major issues will inevitably happen. Likewise, if Christians fail to be a part of other Christians' lives in meaningful, loving ways, the church will not grow. Rather, it will only atrophy and eventually decay. Superficial "taco truck" Christianity kills churches.

Why are so many Christians okay with a "taco truck" experience of Christianity? In short, it's because we are selfish. Meaningful relationships take time, and we don't want to be inconvenienced with our time. So, we stick to superficial quesitons like what someone thought about a recent movie or what they did over Thanksgiving. Loving people means talking about theirs and ours sin, and we hate being uncomfortable. So, we shift to lighter conversations like the news or politics (note the irony in that). We stay superficial because we hate getting at the real heart of the matter, which is the heart.

The Bible calls us to so much more. It calls us to "one anothering", talking about sin and sorrows as much as we talk about triumphs and joys. It calls us to "bear each other's burdens" (Gal. 6:2) and to "have Christ's mind" (Phil. 2:5) in serving each other. One cannot do that with a Sunday-only, in-and-out style of Christianity. No, the Christianity that Jesus calls us to is one of radically getting into each others lives everyday, stirring each other up until both of us look more like him.