“The Zombie Church: A Call to New Life”

Matthew 23:27-28; Psalm 95:7-8 _

Personally, I enjoy a good Zombie movie—the undead, animated corpses moving through the world as if they were alive. They shuffle through cities and countrysides, driven by instinct, devoid of awareness. They consume the living, and in doing so, turn others into what they are: moving, but not alive. Yep, I really like watching that on the small or big screen, it doesn’t matter.

But a Zombie church? It is not too hard to imagine when you think of the Church as Christ’s living body. A Zombie church would be characterized by congregations that meet weekly, sing songs, recite prayers, and even preach sermons. But beneath the surface, there is no heartbeat. No urgency. No expectancy. No awareness that the Lord is near.

They go through the motions, like spiritual zombies—animated but not alive.

Jesus’ warning in Matthew 23:27-29 is sharp:

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. ²⁸ Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.

This isn’t about fear—it’s about readiness. It’s about living in expectancy, in spiritual alertness, with oil in our lamps and eyes lifted toward the horizon.

Zombies don’t expect anything.
Zombies don’t prepare.
Zombies don’t repent.

Psalm 95 echoes God’s grief over a hardened people:

“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”

The tragedy of a zombie-like Church is that it once was alive. It once saw God’s hand at work, felt the Spirit move, and heard the call of the Shepherd. But like Israel at Meribah and Massah, it became jaded. Cold. Cynical. It began to test God rather than trust God.

Here’s the danger:

1. 1. • A hardened heart can sing hymns.
      • A sleeping soul can sit in a pew.
      • A dead church can still maintain a full calendar.

But Christ is not looking for the walking dead. He is calling forth a resurrected people—a Church that doesn’t just move, but is moved by the Spirit.

So we must ask:

Are we watching, or are we wandering?
Are we living, or are we merely surviving?
Are we hearing God’s voice, or merely replaying old tapes of tradition and routine?

The Church must awaken—not out of fear of judgment, but out of a longing to see Christ again. We are not called to be a holy horde of the undead, consuming culture and mimicking life. We are called to be the bride of Christ, clothed in readiness, radiant with hope, alive with the breath of the Spirit.

Questions Contemplative Reflection

1. 1. Where in my spiritual life am I merely going through the motions—functioning outwardly but disconnected inwardly from the Spirit of God?
   2. How might our church be exhibiting signs of spiritual sleep or hardness of heart, and what practices can awaken us to renewed expectancy and readiness for Christ’s return?
   3. What does it mean for us—both personally and communally—to live with urgency, attentiveness, and openness to hearing God’s voice today?