I've noticed lately that it has become fashionable, among Christians, to say "I love Jesus but I hate the church." There are at times variations to this statement but they all carry the same sentiment. I love Jesus, but I've been hurt by church. I get it, I've been involved with the church for most of my life. Since I was 7, in fact. I've been a Southern Baptist, "regular" Baptist, Plymouth Brethren, Calvary Chapel, Pentecostal and I'm sure I've forgotten some. Through these experiences I've discovered one thing; there is no church or denomination that has a corner on the market of truth. This is something we should know since Jesus told us in John 14:6 that He is THE Truth. Why are we trying to find truth in other places is my question? Truth isn't a set of beliefs, it is belief in a Person; the Person of Jesus.
Beyond that I understand that "the statement" also speaks to people being hurt in churches. I've experienced this. I've been left out, overlooked, ignored and sometimes even shunned. When we are hurt our natural defense is to protect ourselves. Sometimes we run from the situation. We don't announce that we're leaving, we just stop showing up. We find others that will sympathize with our hurts. We make others responsible for our pain. Sometimes they are. What should I do about that? Anything that makes you feel powerless is a lie. 2 Timothy 1:7 says that we've not been given a spirit of fear, but of POWER, LOVE, and A SOUND MIND. Did you hear that? You have been given a spirit of power. Don't give your power away. I give my power away when I allow hurt to control me, when I have a victim mentality, when i get offended. I give my power away when I allow other's opinions of me to control me. Let me say it again, DON'T GIVE AWAY YOUR POWER! You are in control of you and only you. You can't control others responses to you, but you can control how you will respond. Notice I didn't say react. Responding comes from a place of power; where you decide what you are going to do. Reaction is just a defense mechanism in which we give other people way to much power over our lives.
I understand that we've all been hurt in church at one point or another. Believe it or not, Pastor's get hurt too. How do I know, well I am one. I've had people make assumptions about me, analyze me, judge my family and the list goes on and on. I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for me, cause I signed up for this gig. What I am saying is that there's enough hurt to go around. However, if we say "I love Jesus, but I hate the church", what exactly am i saying? Let's examine this for a minute. I think most of us would agree that church isn't a building. If there where no people in the building it really couldn't be called church. The church is the people. As Paul said, you are the letter known and read by all men (2 Corinthians 3:2) In other words, you are the church! When you criticize it, you criticize yourself. What are we going to do about it? How are we going to change? Some people's response has been to start their own church, or start a home church. Well guess what, we've just started another church with the possibility that more people will get hurt. Ok, well I just won't go to church. That's an option, but Jesus worked it out so that we are much stronger together. We know in part and prophesy in part (1 Corinthians 13) Don't stop meeting together (Hebrew 10:25). At the core of our belief system is relationship. John 17:3 says that eternal life is to know God and the one whom He sent (Jesus). We should be experts in relationship. We should learn to own our communication and be able to work through things together so that we can all grow from glory to glory. What if we started working on our relationships? What if we learned to communicate better with each other? What if, instead of criticizing each other, we love each other enough to speak the truth in love. I know that's probably impossible, but go figure we serve a God who is the God of the impossible. He's given us a spirit of Love, Power, and a Sound mind. Let's try it and see what happens. Maybe we'll end up with a new statement..."I love Jesus by being the church"
That's the View From Here...
PS. I understand that there are some churches and leadership that do not want input. There are Pastor's and Leaders who play defense when it comes to being questioned. In those cases, you need to ask yourself if you are in the right place. I've been taught to go to the church where I hear the voice of my father most clearly. I feel like my first responsibility as a leader is to create an environment where they can encounter the Lord. I understand that some people do not connect with what we do or how we do it and in those cases we strongly encourage people find a place they can call home. Even if it means being part of a home group or home church.
