I hear a growing chorus of frustration with Christianity and the “the church.” It pops up in blog posts, surfaces in individual conversations, and seeps through the cracks of our decaying religious moral. And for the most part, I would add my voice to the critiques.
Sadly, the church rarely lives up to its noble calling. In far too many cases truth has been wielded with all the tenderness of a baseball bat, authority structures have abused and suppressed the very sheep they were entrusted to nurture and empower, and programs, systems, and corporate culture have squeezed the very soul out of those who come seeking God.
Denying the church’s flaws isn’t helpful. But neither is dismissing it because of them.
I have seen (and smelled) the underbelly of too many Christian organizations and churches to be naïve to the painful realities involved in any human community. There isn’t a group that I have been part of that doesn’t have its casualties. At this point I’m not sure any story of Christian abuse, neglect, insensitivity, or betrayal can shock me. My own experiences have trained me in just how damaging the church can be.
Denying the church’s flaws isn’t helpful. But neither is dismissing it because of them.
An ecclesiology which sees the church primarily as a filling station for our individual spirituality will lead us to easily and quickly quit on it when it does not scratch where we itch. We have bought in to a consumerist paradigm which uses marketing strategies to grow churches and business models to run them. No wonder we are inclined to take our business elsewhere when their services no longer suit us!
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:2-6
But despite all its toxic boils and cancerous perversions, the church is still the Church. It is the body of Christ, the family of our Heavenly Father. That’s not just a nice metaphor designed to give us all a warm fuzzy at the end of a special service. It’s the reality that the Trinity set in motion when the Father sacrificed His Firstborn to bring many more sons and daughters into the family. It’s the reality that we breathe in and out as we enjoy the benefits of the Spirit’s presence with each of us.
For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
I Corinthians 12:13-14, 24-27
God doesn’t offer us individual package deals. As much as we like to think about how much He loves each of us as His special child, the implications of that relationship are that we are now stuck with each other as a family. More than that, we are actually one huge, living organism, bound together by the same life-giving Spirit and topped off with the same life-directing Head. No one of us can belong to God without belonging to the others. No one of us can quit on the rest without also quitting on God (and ourselves, while we are at it).
Perhaps our problem is not that we haven’t found the right church. It’s that we haven’t taken the right approach to church.
Perhaps our problem is not that we haven’t found the right church. It’s that we haven’t taken the right approach to the church.
Years ago a wise Indian pastor knocked the bluster out of me. In response to my self-important criticism of the theological limpness and evangelistic anemia of the mainline church, he quietly replied that he found it easier to stand outside of something and throw rocks at it rather than to remain doggedly within it and work for change. His comment made its mark, influencing me from then on to choose my church based not on its vitality but rather on its need.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away….
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.
1 Corinthians 13:8, 11-12
The longer I have practiced being part of the solution rather than a harbinger of the problem, the more I have come to love the church. What started as a theological commitment to unity has become a part of my spiritual DNA. The more I love God, the more I can’t help but love His body. The more I invest in His family, the more I mature in sharing His own heart.
As frustrating as I still find certain people to be, as infuriating as lousy theology, damaging relationships, and distancing structures still are, I honestly cannot conceptualize of being a Christian apart from the church. It’s my family! Wherever I go in the world, I find my kin. Whether the songs are unfamiliar or the language incomprehensible, these are my people. I have no choice but to bear with them in love.
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Ephesians 4:15-16
So when we raise our voices in critique of the church, we had better recognize that we do it as insiders. Whatever each of us points out as a problem we then have the responsibility to proactively engage. This warty body’s only hope of eventually matching up to its glorious Head lies with each of us, its members, doing our bit.
This is the only Body we’ve got. We may not always like it, but how can we not love it?
messytheology 
Excellent post and well said. My pastor said from the pulpit many times, “It is better to be limping in the right direction than running in the wrong direction.” Being raised in the Christian church, I too have had to get past the “warts” within the body of Christ and, I must continually look to Christ as my perfect example. It seems the Church limps along at times due to our sins, but the Church is also a part of my spiritual DNA, and I too have learned to love and joyfully serve the Church for who she represents. The church is far from perfect in this world, but it is the beautiful and cherished body of Christ.
Just when I get fed up with her, God orchestrates events that remind me of my own need for grace from His people. I can’t afford to think of myself as above or outside of this fold. I’m so glad for each person that doesn’t quit on us but rather chooses to keep loving. May He bless you through His people, and His people through you.
This is a thoughtful and gracious post, Tiffany. I too have had my own experiences that led me to leave my church for a year-and-a-half. Now, however, I am back with a refreshed desire and energy to be a part of the solution, to attend to and invest in this family. I still may feel like an outsider in this family but, as you said, it’s still family, and I must share my Father’s heart.
Oh Susan. Your honesty always refreshes me. As I was writing this, I was thinking of how our ability to be involved in “the Family” changes with different seasons. Sometimes, when wounds are raw and we are too fragile, we have to love from a distance, praying God’s blessing on the church even in our absence. What a joy to hear how, with time and His Spirit’s tender care, you have been able to reengage that relationship. I pray He will reward your faithfulness with surprising encounters of love, warm welcome, and grace.
Thank you, Tiffany. I accept that prayer in love and grace. It’s still tender, but I’m meeting with my pastor monthly, and he is hearing me and making changes.
One of the best things I’ve read in a long, long time! This is just so “spot on” on so many levels and it resonates with me so much. Thank you for sharing your heart and your insights, Tiffany!
Such a great post! Community is messy; it’s not always easy. But we are called to show others the same grace and forgiveness Christ has shown us. Thank you for showing others the good, bad, and ugly of the corporate body of Christ.
Love this. Thanks for sharing. I write often about the church, as I observe what God has to say about it in his Word. But this is an excellent reminder to stay away from unhelpful critique and cling to the beauty found in God’s design of his Body, the Church.