When did protestants start only going to church to get "fed"

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Adamski

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A constant theme I here from protestants are things like

" I don’t like going to church unless I get fed"

“I only need to go to church a couple times a year to get fed I can just read the bible at home with a couple friends because jesus is were two are gathered in his name”

“My family is switching churches because the pastor isn’t feeding us”

My big question is at some point I imagine protestants went to church every week and now at least all my evangelical fiends only go to “get fed” which means less than once a month they are much more likely to attend a weekly Wednesday bible study than Sunday service

When did this start ??
 
Maybe your “evangelical fiends” (Freudian slip??) are picky eaters 🙂
 
Adamski said:
A constant theme I here from protestants are things like

" I don’t like going to church unless I get fed"

“I only need to go to church a couple times a year to get fed I can just read the bible at home with a couple friends because jesus is were two are gathered in his name”

“My family is switching churches because the pastor isn’t feeding us”

My big question is at some point I imagine protestants went to church every week and now at least all my evangelical fiends only go to “get fed” which means less than once a month they are much more likely to attend a weekly Wednesday bible study than Sunday service

When did this start ??
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Why are you concerned with what a few Protestants do? I was a Protestant for 56 years and now Catholic, I don’t see all Catholics attending Mass every week.
 
I don’t know if it is necessarily a protestant thing, maybe more of an american protestant term. The first time I heard the term “being fed” was when I came to the US and I wasn’t sure what it meant.
It can be very hard to generalise among protestants and even among protestants from other cultures. So church attendance of three times per month would probably not qualify you as a “practicing christian” (Catholic or Non-Catholic) in many parts of the world (whether you are fed or not).
 
QuestLove said:
I don’t know if it is necessarily a protestant thing, maybe more of an american protestant term. The first time I heard the term “being fed” was when I came to the US and I wasn’t sure what it meant.
It can be very hard to generalise among protestants and even among protestants from other cultures. So church attendance of three times per month would probably not qualify you as a “practicing christian” (Catholic or Non-Catholic) in many parts of the world (whether you are fed or not).
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I concur. I think it’s more of an American thing than a Protestant thing. The question is generally “What’s in it for me?” And for some, that extends to the area of religion.

I have heard Catholics talk this way, too. It’s not necessarily a completely self-centered thing. We all do have an innate hunger for God and for holy things. So it is a natural inclination to seek out opportunities for that hunger to be filled. Where we go astray is when we look at that hunger through a consumerist lens: I, the parishioner/congregant, am the hungry consumer and you, the priest/pastor, are the dispenser of religious food. What we need to recognize is that our hunger is more often filled through us serving others rather than others serving us.
 
Joe_5859 said:
I concur. I think it’s more of an American thing than a Protestant thing. The question is generally “What’s in it for me?” And for some, that extends to the area of religion.

I have heard Catholics talk this way, too. It’s not necessarily a completely self-centered thing. We all do have an innate hunger for God and for holy things. So it is a natural inclination to seek out opportunities for that hunger to be filled. Where we go astray is when we look at that hunger through a consumerist lens: I, the parishioner/congregant, am the hungry consumer and you, the priest/pastor, are the dispenser of religious food. What we need to recognize is that our hunger is more often filled through us serving others rather than others serving us.
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And don’t get me wrong, I hope it didn’t come off as I was saying americans have the monopoly on self centered christians.😃
Other groups (cultures?) probably do have our own version/phrase of “what can I get from the pastor or priest today”
 
QuestLove said:
And don’t get me wrong, I hope it didn’t come off as I was saying americans have the monopoly on self centered christians.😃
Other groups (cultures?) probably do have our own version/phrase of “what can I get from the pastor or priest today”
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😃 Indeed. Self-interest is a pretty universal human tendency. 🙂
 
Carter12 said:
Why are you concerned with what a few Protestants do? I was a Protestant for 56 years and now Catholic, I don’t see all Catholics attending Mass every week.
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I was a Protestant for even longer! It gets tiresome to read so many posts saying “Protestants do this,” “Protestants do that.” How about just saying “a few Evangelicals I’ve met,” or whatever the case may be. There is a very wide variety of Protestants, both in the U.S. and around the world.
 
Adamski said:
A constant theme I here from protestants are things like

" I don’t like going to church unless I get fed"

“I only need to go to church a couple times a year to get fed I can just read the bible at home with a couple friends because jesus is were two are gathered in his name”

“My family is switching churches because the pastor isn’t feeding us”

My big question is at some point I imagine protestants went to church every week and now at least all my evangelical fiends only go to “get fed” which means less than once a month they are much more likely to attend a weekly Wednesday bible study than Sunday service

When did this start ??
Click to expand...
Yes. I admit it. I go to church to be fed. As Christ said to St. Peter, “feed my sheep”.

I go to church every week to be fed through word and sacrament, to hear His word, to confess and receive absolution, to receive not only spiritually by faith, but also orally by the mouth, His true body and blood. I can’t think of a greater feeding than that.

I know that isn’t what you mean, but that’s what I interpret being fed means.

Jon
 
captainrick said:
I was a Protestant for even longer! It gets tiresome to read so many posts saying “Protestants do this,” “Protestants do that.” How about just saying “a few Evangelicals I’ve met,” or whatever the case may be. There is a very wide variety of Protestants, both in the U.S. and around the world.
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👍👍👍
 
A few points I would like to raise.

First and foremost, our attendance at the Sunday service is indeed to be fed by the Lord God through Word and sacrament. We go primarily to hear from God, and to receive his promises to us, signed and sealed for us in the Lord’s Supper. God condescends to us with the good news of reconciliation by the death of Christ for our sins.

It’s only upon hearing from God, and receiving his promise, that we are equipped to respond first to him by acknowledging his greatness and holiness, confessing our sins, and praising God for the glorious work he has wrought in Christ for our forgiveness.

We are equipped thereby to serve our neighbours in all kinds of ways. The Word is what brings life - as in creation, as in redemption. We need pastors who will feed us with God’s life-giving Word.

At the same time, we are not to forsake meeting together. Lord’s Day worship is not optional for the evangelical.
 
QuestLove said:
I don’t know if it is necessarily a protestant thing, maybe more of an american protestant term. The first time I heard the term “being fed” was when I came to the US and I wasn’t sure what it meant.
It can be very hard to generalise among protestants and even among protestants from other cultures. So church attendance of three times per month would probably not qualify you as a “practicing christian” (Catholic or Non-Catholic) in many parts of the world (whether you are fed or not).
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I think ‘getting fed’ is almost exclusively an Evangelical “thang”. I have never once heard a main-line Protestant use that term. Like Lutherans. Episcopalians, Presbies, or Methodists are people I have never once speak about ‘getting fed’.

Just Evangelicals, who sometimes think they are the only Christians.
 
JonNC said:
Yes. I admit it. I go to church to be fed. As Christ said to St. Peter, “feed my sheep”.

I go to church every week to be fed through word and sacrament, to hear His word, to confess and receive absolution, to receive not only spiritually by faith, but also orally by the mouth, His true body and blood. I can’t think of a greater feeding than that.

I know that isn’t what you mean, but that’s what I interpret being fed means.

Jon
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My first thought about getting “fed” is language used in homilies and liturgies of Feeding on Christ. Is that Lutheran lingo?
 
JonNC said:
Yes. I admit it. I go to church to be fed. As Christ said to St. Peter, “feed my sheep”.

I go to church every week to be fed through word and sacrament, to hear His word, to confess and receive absolution, to receive not only spiritually by faith, but also orally by the mouth, His true body and blood. I can’t think of a greater feeding than that.

I know that isn’t what you mean, but that’s what I interpret being fed means.

Jon
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Amen! Is that not the reason we hear the word and receive the Eucharist? From a Catholic perspective we sit at table and eat real food and drink real drink. Sounds like being fed to me.
 
Ok my main question that no one has answered is when did it become ok to miss church all the time if you are an evangelical and still claim that you are one no catholic that goes to mass 10x a year would claim to be involved at church but evangelicals would
 
Adamski said:
Ok my main question that no one has answered is when did it become ok to miss church all the time if you are an evangelical and still claim that you are one no catholic that goes to mass 10x a year would claim to be involved at church but evangelicals would
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Well, as the Catholic posters in this forum are so quick to remind us, there is no evangelical authority that can issue such an edict.

No one, as far as I’m aware, in the broader evangelical community has declared that it is honorable and right to only go to church ten times a year. Yes, there are people who do that and to justify their disobedience to the word of God (which says we are not to forsake the assembly of believers) some may excuse themselves by claiming that they are not being spiritually fed at their church.

Nevertheless, in the evangelical community, such excuses are seen for what they are–excuses. They are never taken as legitimate reasons for acting contrary to Hebrews 10:25.
 
When I was Protestant, I ‘attended’ services (as one would attend a performance or a play). There was an expectation that if they weren’t ‘good’, we might go find another church or skip church altogether. That is an attitude that occurs frequently (perhaps not among the devout, but definitely among many people).

It took me awhile to realize that when I attend mass, I ‘assist’ in the mass. I am not just a spectator but actually a participant. That, plus the obligation to attend mass (Ohhhhhh, THAT’S what the 4th commandment means, LOL!) made me change my attitude.

Granted, I could have just been a lousy Protestant. 🙂

(formerly “lutheran farmer”)
 
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