RINGA-DING CHURCH: WILL IT LAST?

What would a church look like if all it talked about was giving....sacrificial giving? What would it be to have every member so committed each could not wait to toss money at the church? How would that go? I mean if each member spent all of their working hours just waiting to punch the clock so they could go to church and give, say, 60% or even 110% of their income...would this be a dream? For some to feel so convicted they would even go into credit card debt for the sake of the church....would this be any church like you've experienced?

I briefly experienced it last night at Ringa-Ding Church. I've never been. Oddly, I was asked to attend a function in a banquet hall off to the side...a fund-raiser no less. In order to reach the destined hall, I had to pass through Ringa-Ding Church. Such a church? The huge Cherokee Casino on the East side of Tulsa.

The parking lot was full at 6:00. People were pouring in. Glitz and glitter and chiming one-armed bandits overwhelmed the senses. It had such a strange feeling that a hold-up was in progress and the poor were lining up for the Kool-Aid. Where was Mr. Jones anyway?

I noticed a little about the Ringa-Ding Church. Evidently the members are truly sacrificial as I didn't see any rich folk there. For communion they have beer and cigarettes. And, it is clear they do not believe in a Capella for all the church music was instrumental...Ringa-Ding, Ringa-Ding filled the air with songs of mass robbery while the members smiled.

Should you think this note sarcastic or harsh....I mean it to be. Society usually calls the police when it is being robbed. In this case, though, good citizens volunteer to be fleeced so that when you pull up into the Ringa-Ding Church parking lot one is filled with a sense of, "Wow, this place has money!" Once inside you cannot help but notice who the givers are. The place has money. The members don't.

Most of society complains about churches that only talk about money. I now believe such a society to be either insincere or hypocritical. Ringa-Ding Church? It makes me really sad.