Is There Any Good Left in the Church?
This is part 1 of a 3-part, weekly series:
I am a Christian. I go to church. I know other Christians. We talk. We mingle. But from what I see of myself, in other Christians, and especially in the churches, it would appear there is a genuine lack of relative goodness to be found. We do our outreach and we feed the homeless around the holidays, but I feel as though I am not experiencing that earth-shaking love and compassion He commanded of us.
Where did I go wrong? I am supposed to be light in a dark and lonely world. I am supposed to be what the lost and dying can look up to, to find reasonable hope in. I am supposed to be the eternal love of God Himself in the physical form. But I’m not. And I am not alone. Many Christians have moved so far away from that. It saddens me, and causes me to walk with a heavy heart. I see hordes flock from our churches to join congregations listening to a message of nothing but love, acceptance and vague descriptions of salvation being preached. But why? Why do they feel the need to flee for “greener” pastures? Within my weighted heart, I sincerely believe it’s because they feel as if we “saints” of the church don’t love or lead them, and we no longer show them examples of His grace.
I wish I could say my own sect of belief was different, that we were the exceptions to a brutal new rule, but, honestly, we just may be the worst. I’m Pentecostal, and in today’s religious community, we are seen as the most snobbish and stuck up—and for justifiable reasons.
But it’s more than that. It’s more than simply our fault. Those of us who are saved seem to have forgotten what it was like to be that filthy sinner, crawling on his hands and knees, begging for a holy mercy and redemption. What happened to the lovely grace the church was to provide to the wayward sinner? When did the norm become looking down on someone simply because they weren’t raised in Biblical truth? I can choose to admonish against these things because I am the worst of the lot. I’ve judged those who didn’t behave like I thought they should when my own miserable life was wrought with sin. I doubt there’s good left in our churches because we have fallen from compassion, instead becoming those who stare down from our perches of self-anointed deity and mock those who would dare enter His sanctuary while reeking of sin. Would the One we follow commit such heresy? No. He’d kick us out of our own church before He allowed that to happen. And it weakens my will to realize that we of the church think we are “good” enough to get away with it.
In truth, a change is needed within the four walls of our churches, and the time for that change is now. How are we to do His work of reaching the lost, caring for them, feeding them, clothing them, when we possess such a surly attitude toward those who do not follow our same faith? We are called to love others. To love them. We cannot begin to love something we’ve chosen to despise. It’s time for us to fall from our wickedly high horses and live a life like the Savior did, loving the masses of unwashed, sin-filled travelers. We were once a part of that beggar’s lot. Only by the grace of God are we where we are now. But we’ve chosen to take advantage of that favored position. If we can break free from the restrictions of a building’s four walls, them we can go to the unsaved wherever they may be. It’s not the preacher’s or the deacons’ or the choir leader’s responsibility to reach the lost. It’s mine and it’s yours.
The truth is, we can be better. It’s in our Christ-led heart to be compassionate and faithful in our giving to others, to give of ourselves and to love, love, love the sinner—no matter how distasteful that may feel to our sensitive nature. We were given the gift of salvation, not to hoard to ourselves, but to share with any and all we meet. How many of us can say we truly do just that? I can’t. But I can be better about it. I can learn from past mistakes of pious judgment and begin to love the sinner as God loved me, to show mercy and grace to them as He so wonderfully showed me. We can put goodness back in our churches. But to do so, a change must be made in us and in our approach to the very fabric of our own Christianity.
We are His chosen servants to help and to serve. It’s time we started behaving as such.
(Note: You can follow me on Twitter at @Cory_Copeland. Thank you for reading. It means the world to me.)
Humility is important.
Love each other. It’s the loving “them” that often leads to putting ourselves on pedestals
Anna, I agree. It is difficult to distinguish between being a “chosen servant,” as Cory described, and being humans, equals in sin. How do we reconcile the two? We have been saved and thus we have Christ within us to help us be the “light in a dark and lonely world,” but does that really make us more “favored” than the person who rejects Christ? The Bible says we are God’s chosen people (e.g. 1 Peter 2:9). Personally, I grapple with this idea. It seems like favoritism and favoritism doesn’t seem biblical. Thoughts, anyone?
Wow, this is amazing that you wrote about this because my pastor just preached about this last night. So often we see the outside and unfortunately, consider how the person can benefit us rather than consider their soul. We are called to love souls. My pastor also quoted 2 Corinthians 12:14, where Paul writes “…for I seek not yours but you…” and follows that sentiment up in the next verse with “And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.” It’s not about me or whether I think a person is “church potential” or if I benefit from someone’s salvation, it’s about the saving of ALL mankind! We cannot afford to be selfish in our walk with God.
Well Cory, I agree and disagree with this.
If you wrote this a few months ago I would have said 100% agree with you…but my perspective has changed a lot.
You see growing up as a missionary kid I often saw the ugly side of the church and in the past few years I’ve been really angry at the church. I couldn’t see why they couldn’t love others and how we get into this “holy huddle” mentality – that we naturally think we are better than other people because we are Christians (when we’re not..it’s simply Christ). I began to lump the church as a whole into this 1 group (entitled Christians).
God kind of challenged me into realizing…that sometimes the church needs reaching. As church people it’s often hard for us to admit we need help. We get caught up in our pride (especially if you’ve been saved for a long time)…so much that we forget what it’s like to love. BUT if Christ didn’t see hope in the church – why would He encourage us to fellowship as a body of believers? Why would there be so many books in the New Testament about it?
I love this post in the sense that reminds us to love the lost…but we should also love the church. I’m lucky that the church I go to…really is a good church. They love each other (which I must admit…was really strange at 1st…it was the 1st church I went to that I felt love right away) and they are all about reaching the lost. There is still hope as long as there is people like you and other good Christians in the church. Love starts with us 1st loving other people.
(Hebrews 10:24-25 The Message) “He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.”
Also to the whole ppl leaving churches for “greener pastures” – I 100% agree…find a good church and stick it out. It’s like a marriage…you should stick it out through the bad and the good.
You rock! I love your writing and how you aren’t afraid to take on tough subjects vs. shying around them like most people do. Have a great day! : ) ~Susie
I love your reply.
Thanks Sara
Great post today Cory, I totally agree with you. Thank you for posting this and reminding us all of the amazing love that God has shown us so that we can show the world His love.
<3
Lis
This post is great! It touches on so much that I have been grappling with for years. My background: I was born into church, saved at a young age, went to private Christian school 1-12, and then all 4 years at a Christian university. Much like scook16 said, I have seen much of the ugly side of the church. The high school I was incredibly strict and more concerned with appearances than love. My church went through a rough patch through my teens when certain members of the congregation didn’t like that the pastor was advocating for getting outside the church versus just sitting in the pews. Also, he and others were trying to integrate newer styles of worship that ministered to me and my age group, but the same group (I’ll just say it: many of them were the older people)tried to stop the progress and get the pastor fired. Also, I felt very much an outsider in the youth group. Bottom line, I was angry at church and Christians because they had hurt me, taken advantage of my family’s gifts and time, and because I saw and heard all the ugliness.
For much of my time at college, I didn’t go to church. Other factors attributed, but the main reason was I mad at church and needed a break. Fast-forward, I am going to church again. A different church in a different state that ministers to me and are trying to have authentic inner and outer relationships. I have seen forgiveness given and much of the ugliness of my home church weeded out.
Church is an interesting place, because it is filled with broken sinful people who have been saved, but still struggling to understand and be what Jesus has called them to be. It is a family where not everyone gets along all the time. I think one reason why I have been disappointed in the past is that I set unrealistic expectations on others in the church: they will always be nice to me and always be the godly people they should. Sadly, they aren’t, and much to my pride’s disappointment, I’m not either. This is not to say that there is a lack of effort to strive to be better. Also, I think business is a reality and an excuse for not investing in relationships and serving within and without the church.
To answer the title question: yes I believe there is good left in the church. Because where there is God there is hope and anything is possible with him. I’m not sure what the solution to the problems are other than for individuals to make the choice, make those moment by moment choices to love others and choose to follow God. The church is God’s place, his witness, etc., what better place for Satan to try to wreck havoc and slyly destroy from within.
Look forward to reading the rest of the series!
computer prob.– name didn’t post correctly. this post was by me. Sorry.