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The church is under attack today. Both from the outside and from the inside.
On the outside, the church is belittled, had rights taken away from it, and is being banned from the public square as the culture casts aside the Christian moral code.
On the inside, brothers are turning against brothers, cliques are formed, and what is supposed to be a loving body of believers is instead a series of power plays that mimics the Constitutional government that it currently uses.
Christ is not the literal Head, but a figure head. He’s like the Chancellor of the University who is no longer the President. They like having Him around, or His name sake, and they look for His blessing, but what they don’t realize is that He’s left the building.
No, this isn’t all churches. God will always have people that He can use. The problem is that many churches—though well intentioned—have turned their gatherings into nothing more than club meetings.
This new series will go further into the concept of the church being the body of Christ, what that means, why it’s important, why we cannot do without other believers, and how this body should act.
A favorite song of mine by Amy Grant says “Where have you come from, where are you going, tell me what’s brought you here now. And is your heart singing, then share what you’re bringing, we all are a part of the show. Because we are all going Home, because we are a family and we are all going Home.” This to me epitomizes what church should feel like. A family. Where you’re welcome even if you smell bad and your clothes are dirty, even if you’re the red-headed stepchild.
Alicias last blog post..Things are weighing heavily on my mind…
@Alicia: You’re right, it should feel like family. It’s sad that sometimes it does not. I hadn’t heard that song– thanks for sharing!
My uncle actually teaches a class on Spiritual Abuse. We get a lot of people coming through our church who have been burned in other area churches (there’s a lot of power-hungry ministers and members in this city). It’s really heartbreaking the wounds that come from men taking matters into their own hands and not following Christ’s leadership.
Rachels last blog post..Cel-e-brate Good Times, Come On!
@Rachel: My church has been through a few splits in its relatively young life. I showed up on the scene during the build up to the last one, and we just made it through a mini-split.
It’s sad to see people cling to their ideas and operate like the world when we have the Way, Truth and Life wanting to lead us.
LOL, no problem; I have an Amy Grant song for every occasion. But seriously, I think people go to church wanting to sing, to cry, to feel some connection to each other and to our Heavenly Father. To be at home in His House. It’s our closest connection to Heaven, and it should reflect that.
@Alicia: It’s definitely important we’re in church. It’s the bride of Christ, and the church helps us to know God’s will.
That being said, you’re right. Christians have expectations of how the body should operate, and most of the time it falls way short.
Yes, I agree it’s important to belong to a church. That’s been a personal struggle of mine for a while, of me basically telling God, “But I don’t waant to! They won’t liike me!” (do you hear the whining?)
I hope I don’t sound like I’m trying to justify not going. Mine is just one perspective on a very human reason why people feel alienated at church. Hopefully it contributes somehow to some ideas of ways to welcome new members.
@Alicia: It sounds like you’ve had some very bad experiences. And to tell the truth, I’m sure they’re not unique. Any time you go to a new place it’s hard to break into the established social patterns.
From personal experience, when we moved to the area we’re now in, we found a local church and started to try to make friends– and then we went through a split and the people that we bonded with are no longer attending, or have moved out of the area.
So now it’s a little rough. We try to make new friends, but it’s almost like there’s a “land grab” every time a warm body walks through the door.
It’s hard to break this pattern because it’s very human. Not very God-like, but very human.