I'm interested in what you have to say in response -- it's entirely possible that I've got this all wrong; I've had to scratch my head about this for quite awhile. When I first heard the saying, it was confusing for me -- and it's gotten more confusing as people seem to mean different things by the phrase. This is my attempt to clarify things in my own mind -- running it by whichever of you reads this to see how well I'm following this.
I also am not claiming to have arrived at everything written here -- this is an attempt to hammer out an accurate framework so I can head in the right direction.
American Heritage Dictionary
re•li•gion n.
1.
a. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
b. A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.
2. The life or condition of a person in a religious order.
3. A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.
4. A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.
As Christians, do we believe in and revere a supernatural power that we regard as creator and governor of the universe? Yes.
As Christians, do we exist in an institutional OR PERSONAL framework that is grounded in belief in and worship of this supernatural power? Yes.
Is there a life or condition that we, as Christians, are in as a result of being in this framework? Yes.
Do we follow a set of beliefs, values, and practices that are based on the teachings of a spiritual leader (like Jesus)? Yes.
Does Christianity include causes, principles, and activities that we pursue with zeal or conscientious devotion? Yes.
Then why the heck do we spend so much time denying that Christianity is a religion? A few theories.
1. This postmodern age doesn’t really believe anything is worth holding onto with conviction. Since many believe that we can never really know anything for sure, they think that we should forget about conviction and focus on action that is not necessarily based on any tyrannical concept of Truth. This attitude bleeds into the church, which is beginning to feel (thanks to cultural influence) that if it wants to convert people, it has to let some of its convictions slide and focus on the feelings of man instead of the truths in God’s word. Thus, this saying in this context seeks to ground Christianity more on relationships with people and less on God’s truth. There’s nothing wrong with relationships with people – but the problem here is that relationships with people lose value when they are not grounded in God’s truth, because without God, man’s worth (and therefore the worth of our relationships with men) is at best undeterminable and at worst nonexistent.
2. We have gotten tired of the limits imposed by man made structures in Christianity, like church buildings, services done in a certain order, and silly rituals that are specific to certain denominations. We feel that Christianity as a religion has become so focused on structure that we don’t spend a lot of time helping people in relationships and worshiping a God that is beyond the paintings and rituals. In this context, the saying “Christianity is a relationship, not a religion” is a way to get rid of rituals and structure and simply “love” God and others. This tendency has some positive elements, but we also need to be aware that love needs to exist in some kind of framework in order to exist at all. We need to pursue a definition of God in order to truly have a relationship with Him (Hebrews 11:6). We also need to have a worldview that helps us determine what is right and best for individual people. Without this worldview, it is impossible to determine what actions are loving and which actions are not. That is why 1 Peter chapter 1 says to make every effort to add to your faith goodness, and to goodness knowledge, and to knowledge self control. It is all about love—but love needs to be informed by an increasing knowledge of what is truly loving. Then, we can engage in self control that is focused on being loving according to the knowledge we acquire.
3. Sometimes, this saying is simply used to say that we are being too inner-focused and not outer-focused enough. We are doing too much stuff in the church and not enough stuff out there in the world. The quick and easy fix that is often prescribed is to go out in the world to convert and help them, instead of staying in our cocoon.
The problem with this view was discussed by Jesus. Check out Matthew 23:15:
You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You go halfway around the world to make a convert, but once you get him you make him into a replica of yourselves, double-damned.
Strong words. The problem with the Pharisees here is not that they weren’t outer-focused enough. Jesus was saying that to the extent that they weren’t right on the inside, they were going to be ineffective (and even dangerous) when ministering to people on the outside. When a church focuses on evangilistic outreach because it sees that its own spirituality is suffering, it may have things backwards, because such “outreach” can have the effect of converting others to its own suffering spirituality. What are we to do about this? Jesus gives the antidote:
Matthew 23:25-26
You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony. Stupid Pharisee! Scour the insides, and then the gleaming surface will mean something.
I’m going to be blunt. Not quite as blunt as Jesus, but blunt nevertheless.
I think it’s easier to see the problem as being OUT THERE than it is to see that there’s a fundamental problem IN HERE. Here’s the thing: I’ve found that the more I try to follow Christ myself, the more I can’t help but try to encourage other people to do the same. It becomes natural. I don’t feel like a salesperson – I just feel like I’m living the Christian life, and it becomes what I’m about. Christ becomes so relevant to so many parts of my actions, attitudes, and viewpoints that you can’t talk to me for more than five minutes without me having to bring him up just to explain myself. Once we start dealing with ourselves and our own relationship with Christ, outreach comes easier.
In short, I think the problems Churches often experience regarding outreach are, in many cases, not ones that should be solved with a simple “go out and tell people.”
If I’m not telling people around me about Christ, there may be more wrong with my relationship with Christ than my relationship with the people around me.
And a relationship isn’t just wishy washy – Jesus made it clear in Matthew 25 that the specifics shouldn’t be ignored. But the basics of love, justice, mercy, and faithfulness are things that we need to hold onto as we hammer out the specifics of carrying them out.
4. Sometimes, this quote is used to get us to focus less on rituals and more on service projects. Don’t get me wrong – I think service projects are awesome. We need to do plenty of those. But service projects don’t matter one bit if we are still gossiping behind each other’s backs, polluting ourselves with the world’s attitudes, satisfying ourselves with surface-level relationships with God, and engaging in activities (without remorse) that God would disapprove of. Service projects don’t excuse us from deepening our loving relationships with God and each other any more than rituals do.
5. Sometimes, this quote is actually used to encourage us to follow God on a deeper level, and encourages us to act in ways that are based on this deeper following of God and dedication to others. In this case, the quote isn’t entirely accurate – we are still practicing “religion” – but it is heading in the right direction.
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