Look for the good things in your church. You’ll find them. Then ask the Lord for His help to make the good things better. The Lord has high hopes for His church, and, if you are a member, that includes you.
August 14, 2008 (Thursday)
While surfing the web, I came across this statement: “I want to go back to Church, but struggle with all the phony stuff that I know is there.” This is not so much an accusation against the church as a cry for help. The person who wrote this is searching for perfection, although he (or she) may not know it.
Seems we instinctively hold the church to a higher standard than any other group. We join a club, and it does not surprise us that some members don’t measure up to the club’s standards. We don’t quit the club; we just accept it with its faults. But we don’t usually do that with the church.
As a church grows in size, it becomes more vulnerable to criticism, because its faults are magnified along with its accomplishments. With more people, there are more buildings, more programs, more staff members, and more money needed to make it work. Size itself tends to depersonalize members and they feel less accountable to the big organization than they did when it was small. Growth itself snowballs and many people are added to the rolls who are spiritual infants needing to be nurtured and taught. Our hats are off to the growing churches which have found ways to help members know they are loved and are a real part of the church’s work.
I have been preaching 60 years, and have been pastor of churches of many sizes. The church I pastor today has a very small membership, and there are few secrets. We know each other pretty well and we are more like a family than we were when we were large. We know the other members are not perfect, and we are learning to accept each other, thankful for the good in their lives and praying for them as they deal with their demons and personal shortcomings. There’s a lot to be said in favor of the genuine personal support that can be found in a small church.
One thing that might help people who struggle with what appears to be phoniness in churches is to study the church as seen in the New Testament. It was far from perfect. It always will be, because it is made up of humans, not angels. Angels are in heaven; people are on earth. Churches are people, and people – even people of faith – have shortcomings, make mistakes, and sometimes do bad things.
Jesus gave us a good principle that will help us as we try to understand each other: “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.” Let’s be as kind to others as we are to ourselves, realizing that we are imperfect, but “growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).
And, oh yes, look for the good things in your church. You’ll find them. Then ask the Lord for His help to make the good things better. The Lord has high hopes for His church, and, if you are a member, that includes you.