Thoughts about the church

My friend Natala over at and that has made all the difference has posted these questions - by her own admission, BIG questions - about the church:

I'm in the midst of writing something, and need a random kind of 'survey'. I know these are not exactly light questions... but you can amuse me if you like :)

1. Is Church relevant ? (Can it be?)
2. What is the biggest reason that you believe people do not go to Church?
3. Likewise, why do people go to Church at all?
3. Does Church follow what Christ taught?
4. What does Church need to be/do?
5. What should the Church's first priority be?
6. Any other thoughts on the matter?

go ahead - anything you want to say. [you can respond at her post over here.]

I believe each one of these questions are important - each one could well be a chapter in a book, for that matter. But in my oh-what-the-hell, shoot-from-the-hip mode, this is how I responded to her. Comments, discussion welcome...

1. Is Church relevant ? (Can it be?)
What the church is called to be - a MASH hospital for sinners, and the voice of God's love, acceptance and forgiveness to a sinful, broken world - is incredibly, desperately relevant.

How the church often ends up - a country club for "the faithful," a symbol of "we've got it made" spirituality and respectability, and a place from which sinful people can set up hierarchies of sinfulness, and look down on people "lower on the ladder" than them - that place is horrifically irrelevant.

2. What is the biggest reason that you believe people do not go to Church?

When the church is seen as the seat of holiness and respectability, the last place broken and hurting people will go is to church. Steven Curtis Chapman's For Who He Really Is, Susan Ashton's Started With A Whisper and Casting Crowns' Does Anybody Hear Her? are powerful testimonies on this topic.

3. Likewise, why do people go to Church at all?

It sounds simplistic (even to me) - but the simple fact is that if there's a chance of finding people who know about God and God's love, most of us keep on hoping that they will be in "God's house," and that they will be acting like "God's kids" rather than "God's judge, jury and prosecuting attorney."

(This, by the way, is one of the major arguments I have with folks who say "Sunday is for worshiping God; it's not about seekers, it's about WORSHIP." Like it or not, the primary time that seekers are going to come to us is on Christmas Eve, Easter morning, and on "any given Sunday." It's like Jesse James, when asked why he robbed banks - he said, "'Cuz that's where the money is..." We keep hoping "that's where the true Christians are...")

I appreciated what one of the commenters said about people going to church because they feel guilty. It made me think of the man in recovery who said he had low self-esteem, and he hated himself and what he'd been. His AA sponsor said, "Well, no kidding, bubba. We're alcoholics, but we're not stupid. We know what we have been; knowing that, who could POSSIBLY have reasonable self-esteem?..."

Part of the humility needed to accept God's gift of redemption is the knowledge that I am broken enough to need redeeming.

But I also think that a significant portion of church-goers go because that's where good, respectable, "former sinners" like them are supposed to be on Sunday. Not because there's a relationship with God, but because "it's what we do on Sunday..."

3. Does Church follow what Christ taught?

I would say that some Christians,, some church goers follow Christ's teachings. I'd say that for the last 100 years, the church has been following the traditions and pieties of Christendom, not Christ. Most churches are too afraid of being persecuted to follow Christ too closely.

So instead we find a way of facilitating life for those who are Respectables, the socially-acceptable folks, and try not to hear the call to abandon the nets, the buildings, the pipe organs, and the mission-endowment funds and just GO and SERVE.

Now, to be fair, it would be important to note that even when the apostles had Jesus right there with them, they still managed to do this us-n-them thing. The dirty, the lepers, the children, the Gentiles - the original apostles treated Jesus the same way modern-day publicists treat Brad Pitt. They tried to run interference for him, to be kept away from the untouchables.

Human beings like to associate with folks like them. The shared background, expereinces, and customs make it easier to keep odd-balls out, and keep "folks like us" in. It also makes church into an insider's club, rather than a place to land for the the folks (like me) who need to find Christ...

4. What does Church need to be/do?

The hardest thing for the church to do is to be prophetic in service to the world, rather than being a voice of condemnation to the sinners of the world.

We can talk God's holy word to each other ad nauseum. But when we start loving the untouchables and stop keeping our eyes trained on some unattainable holiness or perfection, that's when we will know that God is down here with us, rather than up there waiting on a cloud for us to "get better. and it will be much better.

5. What should the Church's first priority be?

To be the voices, hands and feet of Christ on earth. To be the ones who stand by the door and motion unbelievers and seekers into meaningful relationships.

6. Any other thoughts on the matter?

About 30 terabytes - but it's late, and I need to leave room for others!....