Why I Haven't Given Up Church

I started following Jesus when I was 18 years old so I'm going on 13 years of being involved with the local church and about 10 years of that has been in leadership. The church gets a lot of flack these days (really it always has) and I can tell you I have personally experienced the ugliest of the uglies within the church. I've been abused, accused, beaten down, called names, ignored, and taken advantage of by "God's People". It's a disheartening feeling when people you hold in such high regard do things like that to you and people around you. Even if you've never been a part of a church you have probably seen news stories about corrupt finances, pastors caught with prostitutes, and of course people holding those lovely protest signs that seem to state that God hates.... well pretty much everybody. I've had people ask me what I think of those things and how I can associate with such people. It's true I don't like being lumped in with televangelists and people who picket funerals and the truth is I'm not really like those people at all. I just love Jesus and I want to go whichever way he's going, but you tell someone you're a christian and immediately they get some image in their head and for some folks it's a really bad image.

So wouldn't it be easier if I just loved Jesus and slept in on Sundays so I could avoid all those messy people? So I could not get my feelings hurt? I can be "saved" without being part of a church, right?

Well, really I have three reasons why I haven't given up on the Church:

1. People everywhere are abused, accused, beaten down, called names, ignored, and taken advantage of. Turn on E! News, watch survivor, listen to other mom's as you pick your kids up from school. This happens where ever people exist together; work, government, playgroups, etc.  We are all hurting people and because of that we hurt other people. It's a mistake we all make at times. We gossip, we judge, we treat people badly. The difference, for me however, is grace. The church is full of flawed people but it's also full of grace. I can't say that for the rest of world.

2. I have abused, accused, beaten down, called names, ignored, and taken advantage of people myself. It's hard to admit but I have. Sometimes knowingly and sometimes not. I am a flawed, broken person and sometimes my messiness gets on the people around me. I can't really judge people for not being perfect examples of Jesus 100% of the time when I'm not even close to that place myself.

3. It's what God desires of me. "²⁴And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:24 & 25.  God doesn't want us to give up on each other because he designed us to be in community. We need other people to encourage us and challenge us in our walks. "No man is an island", right? Yet sometimes we let our hurt make us think that if we operate as silos we are better off. God knows that's not true.

God has never been under the illusion that His Church would be full of perfect people that sing kumbaya all the time and never have problems or arguments. All throughout the Bible you see messy, messy people and as evolved as we like to believe we are these days we aren't any different. We struggle and God knows it and he loves us anyway. All he asks is that we love people the same way he loves us. 

I think the problem is that we hold people in church to a higher standard. I cannot tell you how many times I've heard people say things like "And that person calls himself a christian?", "The church is full of hypocrites", etc. As if being a pastor or even a church member somehow makes you less human. I'd argue that it makes you more human and more vulnerable and all of that gets laid out for the world to see. In a perfect world we all treat each other with the greatest care and really, I think most churches try but no matter how hard we try we are never perfect. Sometimes people poke their fingers right in to our weak spots and other times we do it to them- it's human nature. 

The good news is that God's grace is greater than our human nature. The more we receive this grace, and the more we extend that grace to others, the more we become closer to being the person God designed us to be.

God loves His Church and if we are truly following God, we must love it too even when it hurts us. It's the same way God loves us even when we hurt him. This is not easy but it does get easier. The more we learn to forgive each other, the more we are able to set aside our hurts, pride, and self-centerness, the more free we become. We all have a unique purpose and function in the body of Christ and if we allow ourselves to be separated from the larger body we rob ourselves. 

So, the next time someone at church or some outspoken christian on TV offends something in you or hurts you just remember that they are just people. People are imperfect. God loves imperfect people. Choose to forgive, love, and be an example of God's grace. 


"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." Ephesians 4:2