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If you are discouraged about church . . .

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Discouraged about Church
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If you are discouraged about church, it may be that your expectations are too high.

Church is not a gathering of the mature. Church is not a gathering of the wise. Church is not a gathering of the beautiful.

Church is a gathering of those who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ.

A long while back (it was the 70’s, I think), there was a popular phrase going around in churches that said, “Please be patient with me, God is not finished with me yet.” The point was to remind us that we are all works in progress.

Not only are those who attend church works in progress, but so are the leaders. The question is not whether the leaders are flawed. The question what are they doing about those flaws? Or more correctly, what are they allowing God to do about those flaws?

Does the leader of your church allow others to speak into his blind spots? Do the elders encourage members and visitors to provide feedback? Does the pastor give a sense that God is actively working in his life to transform his understanding and his behavior?

At all times, we have to keep in mind that the way we want church to be is not necessarily what God wants for us. God is less interested in our comfort than he is in our growth in relationship to him.

Also, our background and gifting may see things in the church that should be changed, but the church may not be ready for those changes. Do you trust God enough to bring about those changes in his time? Will you be content to pray for those changes until he does bring them about?

There is a caveat that I should bring up. The understanding that we are a work in progress does not give us an excuse for spiritual or intellectual laziness. The fact that there are so many commands in the New Testament (verbs in the imperative mood) is an indication that effort on our part is required to achieve progress in the Christian life.

We come to church and find imperfection and by being there we add to the pile.

But that is OK. God is powerful enough to use our imperfection to accomplish his plan.

The point of church is not to parade our perfections, but to solicit the help of others as we navigate our own imperfections. We help and encourage our brothers and sisters along the way.

Church wounds run deep

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Church Wounds
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Recently I received an invitation from a missionary friend to a meeting to share the results from a recent trip. The event will be hosted by a church we previously attended. While I would like to support my friend, I am not welcome to attend any event at that church. I had to decline the invitation because of where it is to be held.

My emotional reaction to the invitation surprised me a little. It has been four years since we left that church. I have forgiven those that hurt me and I thought that my experience there was safely in the past. What I learned from the invitation is that while the pain is no longer acute, it is still there. I find that like the wound Frodo received on Weathertop, the pain never completely goes away. Church wounds run deep.

My experience with this leader is not unique to me. I had a conversation last week with a friend who relayed a painful church experience to me. Many people have been wounded deeply as a result of participation in a church. If you don’t believe me, try a Google search on “bad church experiences.”

My point is not to lash out at the former church. My purpose in sharing this is three-fold.

  1. I want to encourage leaders to examine the reasons why people leave their churches. If there is a pattern of people feeling wounded when they leave, then something is wrong and it needs to be addressed. It is your responsibility as a leader to figure it out and allow God to bring correction. You, as leaders, will be judged by how well you have nurtured those under your influence. Here is a quick test: do those who leave your church feel welcome to come back?
  2. I want to encourage those that have been wounded in churches, that the wounds they received also grieve the heart of God. Note that it was religious leaders who initiated the crucifixion of Jesus, so he fully understands the implications of leaders abusing their positions. The Old Testament prophets had a lot to say about the religious leaders of Israel who failed in their commission to shepherd the people of Israel (Ezekiel 34 comes to mind).
  3. I want to encourage those that have been wounded in churches, that while the wounds run deep, finding a good church does a lot toward relieving the pain of the bad experience. There are pastors who take seriously their calling to minister to their congregations and who lovingly care for God’s people. Find one.

On the bright side, much of what I now believe about what the church should be was shaped by that horrible experience. The pain caused me to seek understanding from Scripture about how the church should function and how spiritual leaders should act. An overwhelmingly negative example forced me to look for a positive one.

If you have been wounded by a church, please do not stop trying to find a church with leaders who are serving both God and his people. They are out there and they will one day be greatly rewarded for their service.

Feel free to share your experience in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.

The reason for our existence

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The reason for our existence“The greatest danger of any organization is to lose sight of its reason for existence. This is especially true for the church. A number of years ago someone posted on the front door of a Washington, DC area church a sign that read, ‘Going out of business.’ Not long after the sign was posted someone added these words, ‘We never really knew what our business was.’”

I discovered this paragraph while reading Mark Howell’s commentary on 1 & 2 Thessalonians.

Howell goes on to give statistics about how many churches close every year despite the plethora of church growth books and strategies, some churches fail to grow and eventually close.

The saddest part of this for me is a growing realization that we have over complicated what should be a rather simple directive. Jesus gave us one task, that is to make disciples.

But to make disciples presupposes that one knows what a disciple looks like and also presupposes knowledge of how to become one.

This is where much of Christendom seems to fail. We add programs, doctrinal distinctives and rules (implied and implicit) which turn church into a complicated social game that leaves the players exhausted.

The literal meaning of the word disciple is a learner. Therefore, a disciple of Jesus Christ, is by definition one who learns from Jesus and seeks to live in accordance with his principles.

The problem is that on our own we are incapable of doing this. We are by nature fallen and everything we do carries the taint of sin.

It follows then that one who is truly a disciple of Jesus must have his sin issue remedied, and the only remedy available for this is the Cross.

This is why the Apostle Paul told the Corinthians,

“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2, ESV)

The point is that we cannot be making true disciples of Jesus if we are not preaching and teaching Jesus Christ and him crucified.

The business of the church is to make disciples and we cannot do it without the message of the Cross being central to our teaching.

This is the reason for our existence as an organization.

5 Distinguishing Marks of a Fruitful Church (link)

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Recently I Tweeted a link to an article that I found helpful:

I thought I would take a few moments and capture some thoughts in response to this article by Jarod Wilson.

First, I would agree with what Jarod lists as three “Marks of Neutrality.” I have been in large churches that had thousands on a Sunday and almost no real body life. In the largest of these churches, one could tell when the main pastor was not preaching because there would be 30 – 50% fewer cars in the parking lot. Too many people were coming to hear a big name preacher and were not coming to experience real fellowship.

My second thought is that to develop the “5 Distinguishing Marks” requires the church leadership to be intentional about all these areas. These marks need to be modeled by the pastoral staff and lay leadership for them to be part of the DNA of a church body. If the leadership is not committed to these, they will not be engendered in the church.

My third, and last, thought is that the six diagnostic questions Mr. Wilson gives at the end of the article are worth asking. If you are a church leader, these would be good to discuss in your next elder board meeting.

These questions present a challenge, especially in the overly-busy 21st Century. To develop these traits takes time. It takes time for the leadership to provide the opportunities for discipleship. It takes time for the disciplers to get trained. It takes time for the disciplers to disciple. Time is the one thing on which most of us continually run short.

No matter how well your church is doing in these areas, there is always room for growth.

For a plant to sustain itself, its root system must be deep enough and strong enough to support the growth. Churches are no different. If we want to sustain the numerical growth, the people that are already there need to be growing deeper in their relationship with God and others.

It doesn’t take very much drought to wilt a plant with weak roots.

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