And to some extent, churches cater to consumerism-often to our detriment. People criticize the church today as being consumeristic. Click To Tweet The ultimate consumerism isn’t going to church…it’s walking away from it The church gives the world a front-row seat to the grace of God. So, by the way, is your life, which reflects the story of the church more than you would want to admit. The church’s story, as twisted as it gets at times, is a beautiful story of God’s grace, God’s power, and God’s redemption. The fact that Christ uses flawed people to accomplish his work on earth is actually a sign of his grace, not a sign of his absence.
Most of the New Testament is a story of Jesus using his followers to spread his love in spite of themselves and as they overcome obstacle after obstacle. Most of the New Testament is not a story of an idealized church where everything worked perfectly all the time (just read 1 Corinthians any time you’re frustrated with your church). The idea that God would use you and me is pretty amazing. He could have spoken to the world directly, but instead, chose to use broken people to showcase his grace to a world in need of redemption. The idea that God would use you and me is pretty amazing. He’s proud of how his grace is beating through your imperfect-but-redeemed life and through the church (have you ever read Ephesians 3: 10-11?). That God would use ordinary, broken human beings as vessels of his grace, and delight in it, is awe-inspiring. I understand that the idea of the church being imperfect makes some people despair.īut rather than making us despair, the fact that Jesus started the church with imperfect people should make us marvel at God’s incredible grace. Click To Tweet Maybe what bothers you should actually amaze you If you want to get rid of the church, you also need to get rid of Jesus. If you want to get rid of the church, you also need to get rid of Jesus. I won’t fill this post with scripture verses that prove my point, because, quite frankly, you’d have to get rid of the majority of the New Testament to argue that the church was a parenthetical, made-up organization. It’s about the work of the church that Jesus initiated and ordained. In fact, most of the New Testament is not about the teachings of Jesus. Half-reading the New Testament with one eye closed will still lead you to the inescapable conclusion that the church was God’s idea. Second, the church was not a human invention. You can’t disassociate from the church as a Christian any more than you can disassociate from humanity as a person.
People argue the idea of church isn’t even biblical.įirst, if you’re a Christian, church is not something you go to. Click To Tweet The church isn’t even biblical, is it? While writing off the church passes as sophisticated thinking, it’s actually the opposite what if it’s a simplistic and even reductionistic line of thinking that leads nowhere constructive? While writing off the church passes as sophisticated thinking, it's actually the opposite. And the post-modern mind distrusts most things organized or institutional.īut as trendy as the idea of writing off the church may be, it’s a mistake. (For a summary of the issues, here’s a piece on the 10 reasons even committed church attenders are attending church less often). We’ve spent a lot of time working through the issue of declining church attendance (and growing disillusionment with the church) on this blog and on my leadership podcast. While it’s easy to point to the significant exodus after the pandemic as a temporary blip, the truth is the exit has been happening for decades, even a generation or two. Even people who used to lead in the church often stop attending ( here are 9 reasons why church leaders do that).
I completely understand why a growing number of people are bailing on church. The church is a man-made invention, not God’s idea. I don’t really need to go to church…my relationship with God is personal.
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