Me, God, and Sunday Morning

This week I had a conversation with longtime believer. It was a conversation while on a flight to Nashville. It wasn’t long before our conversation veered toward the spiritual life. You could immediately tell from this lady’s conversations that she was someone who was kind, generous, and spiritual. And yet, when the topic came toward the Church, she shrunk back. She’d been hurt, deeply, by the Church experiences she’d encountered. She recounted a few of them and they were deep, hurtful, wicked events.

So, naturally, she no longer trusts the Church. She prefers to worship Christ on her own.

I sympathize with this person. Often the ugliest acting people in the world are people of faith. Carnality is a ghastly thing, reflecting the double-mindedness of someone trying to straddle two kingdoms. We al have seasons of this in our lives, but some seem to make carnality their home. In doing so, they deeply hurt those trying to seek God.

I’ve been a believer all my life, nearly 30 years. I’ve felt the hurts of the Church. And yet, the older I get and the more I study the Scriptures, the more convinced I am that God’s best place for worship and growth is in the Church.

In fact, if you read through the New Testament, especially the letters of Paul and Peter and James and John, it’s hard to find any reference to spiritual growth without the context of the church. It’s as if the Scriptures insist that spiritual growth depends on others and must be poured out in service to the Body.

In my role as a pastor, I’m finding a lot of Christians who seem to make church optional. And these are not all flaky, sort of whimsical, lets-meet-at-starbucks-and-hug-each-other types. I’m running into very solid, theologically sound folks who can quote church fathers like baseball stats. And yet, their church record is spotty. They read books, attend conferences, and know a lot of stuff. But they don’t get up on Sunday morning, drive to church, roll up their sleeves and get involved. They do sometimes. But not every Sunday and not at the same church.

Here’s the point I’m making, the point I believe is expressed throughout the New Testament: Your spiritual life is woefully incomplete and falling short of mission if you are not involved in a local church. Even if you’ve been burned by the church. Even if you’re idea of how church should be has not been expressed fully in your community.

My advice? View church as the place for you to serve, for all of its inadequacies, insults, and bad coffee. God created you and redeemed you with the intention of serving the body. It’s time to choose a local expresson of that body to serve.




Related posts

coded by nessus

3 Comments

  1. Chris says:
    March 4, 2011 at 2:49 am

    I appreciate your blog entry. I am in agreement that the church remains God's primary vehicle for edifying believers and serving the lost. I was basically forced out of my church a few years ago by a pastor who was more interested in serving his kingdom instead of God's. I struggled for awhile with feelings of despair and betrayal. However, God has used this time to give me the greatest spiritual growth of my life. I get great teaching (Piper, Chandler, Chan, Driscoll, Merrick, Keller), I am engaged in numerous ongoing witnessing opportunities and I serve the community in a variety of ways. I think what has allowed this to happen (in addition to God's grace) is that I have continued to lead a men's small group for the past 10 years and that has become my primary Christian community, aside from family and other friends. I think that the Bible implores us to be in community with other believers which traditionally looks like Sunday morning church for most Christians. In first century Christianity that was generally in the homes of believers. I am not saying I won't go back to a more traditional church home. In fact, I know I will and it is just a matter of time until I feel called to the right church. However, I just think it is too much of a generalization to say that my spiritual life is woefully incomplete and falling short of mission because I don't get up on Sunday morning and walk into church. The more important litmus test is whether or not I am allowing God to use my life for His glory and to serve others every single morning I arise.

    • Daniel_Darling says:
      March 4, 2011 at 3:07 am

      Chris, I hear what your'e saying. And truthfully, I think you're right to have a season of healing before you step into another church. And I like the fact that you're planning on joining another church and getting involved. You make great points.

  2. mary says:
    March 4, 2011 at 5:53 am

    I too left my church. I felt i was not growing. And it was getting to the point that i just didn't feel like staying, not even a bit after church. what happen to me after i left ,i felt closer to GOD than ever before. i studied more. i spent 2 to3 hours just one on one withGOD and i love it. i talked to my pastor about it and he understood what i was going throu,because he went throu it himself. until he gave in to his calling to be a pastor. Now iam still without a church,but when i go and visit a church ,i try to spend as much time there as i can and when that happens, i miss my church. then you popped up. thank you.