It is sad that when you reveal some areas the churches today are lacking in, and many jump down the churches throats and use that to justify a wrong attitude toward church.
I write all this not so much as a cry for help, but as an OFFER to HELP. I have been observing that something needs to change. I believe God has answers and God wants to help but we keep turning a blind eye to the problems and see what is wrong with everyone else but do not dare to look inside. God has answers but we aren’t willing to ask the hard questions. And to make a difference you need to be different, but the church today thrives on conformity, not to Christ but to our denominations or fellowship groups or circles. It rewards obedience and allegiance to men as being submissive, yet obedience to Christ at any cost is treated as rebellion and not-of-God. And to try and listen for the still small voice among the boasts of the brethren, you’re more likely to doubt your sanity and give up before you ever get heard.
I believe, and observe, that today the lost world and saved world alike is crying out for help and hope and healing and many have been disappointed or disillusioned or discouraged by the churches of America today, and the church seems to say, “Well, we have an open door. We are here if you ever get to the end of yourselves and come back.”
No, we need to go to others, be the church, be willing to be real and vulnerable, and care about people. And at the same time, get people to see ultimately we are human and we might let you down. Maybe a problem is the church wants to give a front of being perfect and the answer, yet when it is obvious we are failing and not getting the job done. Instead of getting honest, we like to keep busy, keep pushing programs and pragmatics, performance, and politics, and meanwhile the people with problems are pushed to “professionals” and “prescriptions” and at the same time many in the church are pretending while either being cold and callous and struggling with pride, or having secret sins and pretending. Some honest research reveals major problems going on behind closed doors — for example 70% of evangelical Christians are struggling with Pornography.
Those who have overcome addictions are best equipped to help others overcome. Yet the church doesn’t have open arms for ex-sexual addicts unless you never mention it and never struggle again and never remind anyone who you were. But we promise we have an answer for current addicts. Because just maybe they’ll never mention it, and never struggle again, and never remind anyone who they were.
We can instead have a real living vibrant Christianity if we are willing to pay the cost. One with honest discipleship and true accountability and having grace and mercy for folks, and being willing to listen, can produce real freedom where folks aren’t wallowing in defeat or having the Elder Brother snobbery looking down at anyone struggling because they don’t understand why you can’t be on the same plane as they are. “All these years doth I served thee.” Will we pay the cost?
We need to produce true disciples of Christ that are secure in their freedom to be willing to be poured out for others. That they see Jesus in us, laying our lives down if need be. Sacrifice. Charity. That a man lay down his life for his friends. Does that describe our churches? Instead it’s a “I preached that lesson 5 years ago on May 12, 2012. Why are you still struggling with this?”
How do we deal with any of this? Instead of giving an atmosphere for healing, we present a Christianity of over-comers yet lack grace for the stragglers. And if anyone seems to have too complicated a situation, we don’t get involved –we send them for help outside the church when we are supposed to tell the world we have the answers.
And those that are hurting and looking for answers are cast aside, labeled as rebels, or they give up themselves because they can’t find real biblical Christianity in action.
To me the fact that there needs to be professionals reveals the church is not getting the job done and doesn’t want to truly pour our lives into others. I see it in my own heart — people are needy, it seems you give and give and it is never enough, so you can get hard and refuse to let anyone take advantage of you again. So I get it — people are supposed to turn to Jesus but they depend on man, man lets them down, they get mad at God and blame church, go to the professionals who need help themselves, and maybe, eventually we come around and find that Jesus really means what he says where He is all we need.
Either He’s all we need or His promises are lies. But it’s not cost effective to simply take Jesus at His word, invest in simply discipling others and being with them as they slowly learn how to trust Him, and spend the time and resources to teach all nations. It is far easier to have zero depth to our Christianity, give up on people, tell them what to do and not SHOW them by example and by walking and stumbling and picking them up every step of the way, and lead people by guilt and not the spirit and give the impression you are an expert in leading people but forcing them to find satisfying answers else where to experts who only are right when they borrow from the bible anyway. The problem is with us looking to man for answers inside and outside the church, but there is a problem with the church today too for setting an expectation they have the answers, yet not lifting the fingers of the heavy burdens put on everyone, and then leaving them no choice but to go to a world for answers that is looking for them themselves.