Complaining About Church

In the past few days I have seen multiple people sharing multiple articles about all the things the Church is doing wrong. From the top ten reasons visitors don’t come back to the newest trends for 2015. Studying church is a good thing – keeping visitors is a great thing – change is hard, but typically good. I’ve also noticed people who used to be pastors or individuals I once knew as the church-going type to have completely dropped off the pulpit and the pews. What’s the deal?

Each of us will never find a church that does exactly what we want it to. The pastor will never preach the exact sermon each member wants to hear each week. The Women’s Ministry leader will never be able to find a Bible study that each woman in the group loves. The Youth Pastor will not choose events that are each student's favorite things to do each month. The song leader may *gasp* throw a hymn into the song service every once in a while. Church is doing life together. Doing life together is hard. It takes work. It takes vulnerability. And yes, that vulnerability can sometimes lead to hurt, because the people who make up the church aren’t perfect. I know. What? But it’s true – we are all struggling through trying to do our best and coming up short.

My point is this. We (myself included) need to focus a little less on what the Church can do for us. Instead, let's focus a little more on what we bring to Church. Am I walking through those doors with a heart of worship, ready for service and aimed at loving God and others? Or is my focus a certain type of music, a certain style of preaching or a certain style of décor? If the pastor’s sermons are offensive – check Scripture. If what he’s preaching is scriptural, then it’s not an issue with Mr. Pastor – it’s an issue with God and His Word. If the next women’s Bible study doesn't sound thrilling, focus on how God can grow you through just loving on the other women in the study. When the youth pastor picks an event that isn't "fun," remember that he’s got 10, 30, 100 kids to cater to – I’m sure he’s trying to find a range of activities to appeal to everyone. Plus, it's not really about the activity - it's about the students learning to love one another. When the words to a hymn pop up on the screen, don’t groan. Remember, Jesus is walking those aisles each Sunday morning and basking in the glory of hearing His children lift their voices to Him. The groans are getting in His way.

We have become so self-absorbed in our all-about-me-instant-gratification culture that we have turned church into a checklist of attributes that must be met or else something is wrong with it. Church is not about us. Unless you are Joel Osteen’s wife, then it is. But that’s a whole other issue. It’s not about what you or I want. Church isn’t about the pastor, the songs, or - let’s be bold here - whether or not there's a meet and greet handshake time during the service. It's solely and completely about loving God and loving people.

I do not wish to offend people. I am simply crazy sick of people complaining about what the Church isn’t doing for them. The Church cannot and will not be able to cater to the needs of their members, if we – the bride of Christ – do not put our selfishness aside and step up to the plate. It’s time to go to church to do the ultimate commandment – love God and love one another. I think we all may find when we have those two things in the forefront of our minds, all the other stuff about Church will come together.