Deborah continues to bring up good points on this blog. She mentioned that several people in her church have come and asked where they can get fed in her particular community of faith. I am always leery when people ask me that question.

First off, most people who know what the word fed implies in the Christian world have probably been following Christ for a while now. They obviously know the lingo that is used by Christians and are looking for a place to spiritually serve them. If they know enough to ask where they can be fed, they are pretty much seasoned believers.

Second, when I am asked that question (because of my first thought) I wonder what exactly they are doing to feed themselves. They should know that the bible is their daily bread, prayer is their connection to God and that fellowship is a good thing. Yet, many people who have been following Christ for years are still asking “who is going to feed me.”

This is such a huge problem in Corporate Christian America. There is supposed to be a natural spiritual growth progression, much like there is in humans. We are born, we are at first spoon fed, but we eventually learn to feed ourselves. Imaging a 30 year-old going to his parents and asking “who is going to feed me?” It sounds ridiculous, yet we still have 30 year believers who are looking to be fed by pastors who find it necessary to feed all of his sheep.

Most people use Jesus’ exchange with Peter in the gospel about “feeding my sheep” to justify this. However, we must note a few things. Scripture was not available for nearly 150 years after that moment, so people were unable to read the word for themselves. Second, Peter didn’t go and start a disciple ship ministry in the upper room. He went out from town to town and evangelized! And, while he did that he wrote some letters to the church concerning doctrine. So, either Peter disobeyed Christ or he knew it meant something more than just make sure that everyone gets fed by you.

Now, I am obviously not saying that discipleship is unimportant or irrelevant. We must have this in our churches, either via small groups or discipleship programs. However, I think it is high time that the church stop looking for where they can be fed and get up to feed themselves. They have EVERYTHING they need to connect and grow on their own, while serving and in an being connected to a local church.

I could get into more about how most pastors enjoy being needed as a feeder, but this is enough for today. It’s just time that mature Christians stop looking for places to be fed and start feeding those whose souls are craving God.