Are you following Jesus or just a Church-Goer?

It’s crucial to distinguish between these two because, in contemporary Christianity, many churches have evolved into fascinating yet flawed human organizations.

Growing up in a Baptist church, my entire family’s life revolved around it. My mother was the Director of Christian Education, and my father served as the CFO. I even led the middle school boys and was deeply involved with Mexico City’s First Baptist Church. (I’ve always wondered who assigned the numbering because I never found the second or third!)

Sunday was our primary church day. We attended Bible School at 11:00 a.m., often arriving at 9:00 for breakfast. At noon, we joined the main service in the massive sanctuary. We sang hymns and went through the full Baptist liturgical routine, which I now jokingly call the “elevator” church: “Please stand up, you may be seated; please stand up, you may be seated.” The sermons were incredibly long—at least 40 minutes. By 2:00 p.m., you could hear the stomachs of our fellow churchgoers growling.

At 2:30, we were back home for dinner (yes, in Mexico, the main meal is at 2:00 p.m.). By 4:00, my brothers and I headed back for middle school or young adult clubs. Sometimes, we even joined the 6:00 p.m. service.

Saturdays were packed with church activities—sports, picnics, mini-conferences, choir rehearsals—you name it. Midweek, we attended Wednesday prayer services and more rehearsals, as there were four different worship groups.

It was exhausting—a full-time commitment, week after week.

Around the age of 18, I started to sense something was off. All that “churchology,” yet the people and leaders were often unkind. There were cliques, politics, and power struggles. Suddenly, this “perfect” church looked more like a syndicate with antagonistic factions vying for control. General assemblies were ego-driven spectacles filled with ugly power grabs.

The church split multiple times. The losing factions left in shame to form their own congregations. If your friends were in the opposing group, those friendships were effectively over. The winner took it all. Eventually, the church fell under the most rigid, ultra-legalistic wing—the very one I belonged to, the bitter Pharisee wing.

I couldn’t stand the rottenness anymore, so I quit that church and joined an even more legalistic group that nearly destroyed me. After a long journey, Jesus found me and rescued me.

This is a picture of today’s Christianity—perhaps more pragmatic and politicized, but fundamentally the same.

You join a church, and you’re plugged into a machine that keeps you busy with events and activities “around” Jesus. Conferences, small groups, Bible studies, worship groups—you name it. Religious or Christian activism: activity after activity.

If this describes your life, ask yourself: Where is Jesus in your life?

You might say, “I gave my life to Jesus on this date, got baptized on that date, attend this and that, lead this ministry and that.”

But I ask again: Where are you with Jesus right now?

Jesus never commanded us to open churches. He commanded us to make disciples. And you cannot make disciples if you are not a disciple first. Do you even know what it takes to be one? When will you be “done,” ready to replicate, ready to reign? Most don’t even grasp what that means.

The fundamental problem is simple: We are not truly following Jesus.

If you were, every word He spoke would be the ultimate instruction for your life. You’d then study the rest of Scripture to see how to live it out, as modeled by God’s people in both the Old and New Testaments. But many take their single dose of Jesus once a week during Sunday service—if He’s even mentioned. Often, He’s nothing more than the salad dressing on a word-salad sermon.

Being a follower of Jesus means being in love with Him—like a teenager with their favorite rockstar: posters on the wall, every song memorized, talking about them night and day.

Most importantly, it means doing what He teaches.

Today’s Christianity is broken because of one sentence:

“We don’t take His words seriously.”

His disciples spent three whole years with Him in an immersive experience. Even after His death, they scattered in fear. But when they met the resurrected Christ, they were ready. More than 500 saw Him give His last instructions—but only a fraction truly listened:

> “Jesus instructed them, ‘Don’t leave Jerusalem, but wait here until you receive the gift I told you about, the gift the Father has promised. For John baptized you in water, but in a few days from now you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit! But I promise you this—the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and you will be seized with power. You will be my messengers to Jerusalem, throughout Judea, the distant provinces—even to the remotest places on earth!’”

> —Acts 1:4–5, 8 (TPT)

Do you see? Jesus said: Wait. Do nothing. Receive the Holy Spirit first. Then, and only then, will you have power to be His messengers.

The problem with the Church today is that it’s stuck between Jesus’ ascension and the Upper Room. It lacks power and, more importantly, the Holy Spirit’s direction.

It’s like a self-directed team without a coach or a technical director—a Montessori Christianity where everyone does whatever they think is best. Chaos. Division. A pitiful circus of doctrines, traditions, and power struggles.

But that is about to change. The Holy Spirit is about to blow the whistle, call us into His gym, and start giving the plays. The era of Churchanity is over. Here comes His glory. Welcome to the Glory Age!