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Church--What
Good Is It?
By
Thomas R. Fletcher
Church attendance in the
United States
is down several percentage points from just a few years ago. Eighty percent of
recorded church membership growth comes not from new converts but from transfers
among denominations. Evangelism is stagnant. Ninety-six percent of Americans
claim to believe in God, but apparently it is a god of their own design, a god
that does not demand loyalty or make any demands upon one's time. The church is
losing its influence upon society. Every person is doing that which is right in
his own eyes. Many are questioning the relevance of the church in today's
society.
In all honesty, I, too, question the relevance of the church. A church is
doing no good when the attendees all wear pasted-on smiles and say, "All is
well, praise God." Meanwhile, their lives are falling apart. A church is
doing no good when a person admits a problem and he or she is looked upon as
being less of a Christian. Too many local churches are proclaiming a mixture of
biblical truth and personal opinions, some of which are quite weird.
Unfortunately, the unconverted have no idea where biblical truth ends and
personal opinion begins, and the entire amalgamation is rejected. Those
congregations flatter themselves that they are being "persecuted for
righteousness' sake." The reality is, they have been rejected for
weirdness' sake.
Sometimes, I think we draw our lines of acceptance so tightly that we would disqualify the Pharisees of Jesus' day. Church should be a place
where the masks come off - yet all too often, it is a place where they are held firmly in
place.
The reality is we are all flawed. All lives are touched by sin. We all
face struggles and temptations. We hunger for real relationships wherein we may
honestly discuss our struggles and still find acceptance. Why go to a place
where one feels compelled to act as though life were perfect? People aren't
looking for more fakery; the world is filled with posturing poseurs. Nobody
wants to find more of them in what should be a spiritual setting. Neither are
people looking for someone to point out their flaws. They know them all too
well.
We live in a society that idolizes the image of the rugged individual who
stands alone against all odds. Broken, lonely, hurting people don't align very
well with that image, so we wear our masks. This idol of individualism has
caused untold needless pain and suffering in the lives of those who uphold it.
We risk too much if we show weakness. We risk too much if we admit we need
others. We risk being judged. We risk being rejected. So we maintain our
relationships at the surface level to avoid the scrutiny of others. It also
helps us not to know too much about others. It could get messy; we might be
asked to help someone face a problem.
The superficiality of it all, coupled with the impression that the church wants your money to keep the wheels turning with no purpose other than
keeping the wheels turning, raises valid questions of relevance. While it is
true that the church needs programs and buildings to carry out its function,
those are not to be the focus of her efforts. People are to be the focus.
It is too easy to think of "the church" in abstract terms. We
may think of the church as an institution. We need to think of the church in
concrete terms. It is not the buildings, not the institution, not only the
religious professionals, but individual Christians who make up the church.
Ultimately, the church's bad behavior is an indictment upon us all. Any problem
with the church is in reality a problem with us, the individual Christians, for
we are "the called out ones." We may not be directly contributing to a
situation, but are we doing anything to correct the problem? We need to be what
we expect the church to be: caring, compassionate and merciful. I can't point my
finger at the church without examining my life. Am I critical and judgmental of
others? Am I contributing to the surface-level relationships that exist? Am I
extending my hand in fellowship to lonely, hurting people? We need to stick to
the Bible and leave our personal opinions out of the mixture. God's word is
quite sufficient.
The church is made up of sinners reclaimed by God who, in turn, are to offer God's reclamation to other sinners, without judgment or criticism. God
calls believers out of the world to be a "called out community" to
nurture and support one another. We are entrusted with the proclamation of his
truth. As recipients of his grace, he now calls us to dispense that grace to
others. Yet far too often, church members are known more for their biting
criticism than their loving kindness. We are to welcome sinners in need of
grace, for so we were and are we all.
Fellow Christians are family members - brothers and sisters in Christ. He
expects us to care for one another and to be a part of a body of believers, the
local church, the social structure of his design. A true Christian, if he or she
is to be a biblical Christian, must have a part in a local congregation that
assembles together for worship and service to God. It is in the local
congregation that we send down deep roots - roots that support and strengthen
one another. We have strength in such a community that we can never have on our
own. The church isn't perfect. No local congregation is. The reason being, it is
made up of flawed individuals.
However, we can all work to make our local church more of what God wants it to be by our being what God wants us to be as individuals. Cut out the
judgmental attitudes. Get rid of the pettiness. When the world sees these things
within us, we are obscuring its view of Christ. As we hold forth the word of
life in love, as we become a loving body of believers, nurturing and caring for
one another, the church will be relevant to society. People will know the Great Comforter is in our midst.
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