One of the biggest reasons I used to run away from faith in my early 30s was my perceived irrelevancy of the church.
I had worked many years in para-church ministries and on staff in a couple of churches. My experience always seemed frustrating to me. I am a person who likes change, progress, and reason. So much of what I felt in churches were traditions, recitation of other people’s ideas, and basically a lot of selfish posturing in an attempt to reach God. It seemed to me that the church was there for people’s entertainment, control of behavior, and social structure of belonging. I often didn’t sense God or real meaning in so much of it.
Based on my renewed faith and more mature understanding of scripture and life itself…I now see that the true nature of the real church is “relationship”…relationship with fellow believers and faith in the living God. It really has little to do with our rituals, incantations, or self-imaging before our maker.
For me now, it is all about relationship and praising God in a multitude of ways. If we are in a church where relationships are hard to form or rituals snuff out the time or ability to praise God, it may be time to consider a move.
Granted, praising God can be in many different forms. There is a time for quiet reverence and reflection before God. There is also a time to verbally pray, sing, and dance before the Lord as is often depicted in the Psalms and worship by the Jewish people of old. There is a time to praise him with our tithes and gifts. There is a time to praise him by giving our testimony to others of God’s grace in our lives through the Gospel. As the scripture tells us, “God inhabits the praise of his people”.
What I still don’t understand is simply “attending” church and claiming to be a “Christian”. Does walking into a bar make one an alcoholic?
I believe the church is supposed to be participatory and active. We are to give and receive…which is an action. We are to share our burdens and confess our sins to one another…yet so many of us feel ashamed to confess our concerns or shortcomings to each other. (James 5:16 “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”)
One of my great criticisms of “church” was that it is full of “hypocrites”…which means people that confess one thing and live another. Yet, the revelation of renewed faith is that we ALL are hypocrites one way or the other at times. We often profess beliefs we don’t live up to, and even Christians can be blind to the error of their own ways. We often get off on our own selfish track in life versus being willing to go and do what God wants us to.
The church is about WORK…a four-letter word. “Faith without works is dead” and the work of the church is in 1 Timothy 6:18-19. “Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.” How full could our churches be if we fulfilled the feeding and care of orphans, widows, and others in need? When was the last time you or I visited the hopeless in prisons, orphanages, or eldercare institutions? When was the last time we invited “those kinds of people” to our houses of worship? When was the last time our church did something for the neighbors in our own neighborhood? I would suggest many have forgotten the WORK of the church in favor of self-serving “reflection” or “feel good” worship.
I am not suggesting we shouldn’t pray, meditate, or feel good about our worship. What I am saying is that all of these spiritual “exercises” are for naught if we don’t do the work of loving and caring for those less fortunate than ourselves.
At heart, I sense a longing for the early church as reported in the Book of Acts. Acts 2:42-47 (NLT) states:
“All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”
There are so many sermons to be preached on that simple paragraph, yet I think many churches are quietly being established and growing based on these simple principles. Teaching, fellowship, sharing meals, and prayer were the key actions of the early believers. People saw their relationships and security based on others. It was not about self, but about the cause of Christ and him crucified. Based on these actions and works, “the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved”.
I believe that God is waiting for the church to be a true body of believers in which to entrust the souls of people everywhere. The church must come alive in spiritual WORKS and RELATIONSHIPS. “By this will all men know you are my disciples if you have love one for the other.” Our works must be founded in love…not just duty. Our giving and our actions should not be trumpeted publicly for self-glory and pride. If we do it for that, we already have our reward.
I don’t know about you, but I desire to participate and be in a church of believers who focus on relationships and good works based on obedience to the gospel. Politics, finances, and theology itself dim in their power next to the power potential of relationship and love.
One final thought…these Christian attributes start in our homes. The Bible is full of instructions on how to build our homes and raise our children. The church needs to continue teaching and instructing these truths to rebuild our families. Families are the longevity and lifeblood of the future church. If churches want to grow and be fruitful, they must pursue meeting personal needs and building strong families. After all, most of our perceptions of God are built from childhood on our perceptions of our parents. Love and godliness start at home…then pollinates to the church at large.
So, the effectiveness of the church is not in buildings, ceremonies, or theologies. Growth both spiritually and in numbers will be based on the loving good works THE CHURCH does in relationship to each other. Thank God I am seeing this anew in my family and some of my circle of friends who do the work and sow the love.