Why I Both Like and Dislike Your Church All at the Same Time!

I wanted to share something that I’ve gradually been learning and putting together over the last few years. Perhaps this is fairly elementary and something I should have picked up on ages ago. This has to do with our interaction with those who attend more traditional churches. Sorry if I step on any toes or if this doesn’t make sense from where you’re coming from!
Here’s what I’m learning:

“There’s a level of maturity and self-control in being able to simultaneously disagree with a church’s structure and doctrine, while at the same time, being able to humbly join in worship at that church as if you were anywhere else.”

As I said above, this could be common spiritual sense. I guess that makes me spiritually dense.
This all came about in an interesting, round-about way. You see, a good friend of mine attends a very large church near to our homes. As he and I have become better friends, our conversations have turned to spiritual things, occasionally to how his big church and our tiny little house church are setup. And sometimes those conversations turn into arguments, or perhaps a better way to describe it would be “discussions.”

I’ve expressed how it appears to me that their worship services can seem more like concerts and less like worship, particularly when secular songs are a highlight of the service. How I am concerned that while the church is extremely effective at drawing people to the building, a large percent of the people can be completely nameless and uncommitted for their entire time as members. How spiritual growth, depth, leadership, and vision can be inhibited by merely the structure of the church.

And my friend has listened to my rantings with much patience. Probably with more grace than I gave him, based on my reading of the previous paragraph. And so I’ve cheer leaded house church, explained how our meeting is setup, how we try and let the Holy Spirit and no person lead the meeting. And how we are deeply involved in one another’s lives, and call those who would walk along with us to this same level of involvement.

Through all of this, my friend still decided to come and visit our meeting one Sunday evening. I was grateful that he was willing to try something much different than he was used to. The next weekend, on Sunday morning, I decided to wake up early in the morning on Sunday and go out to his big church with him. I think this surprised him, as based on my ranting, it would seem that I thought this church had fallen away from God and we’d be better off if it just closed its doors today. This is simply an ugly byproduct for my zeal for the way we do things at our church. As if we knew the best way. While I certainly believe it’s the best way (and that’s why I’m pursuing it), I don’t know everything that God’s doing and everything he’s leading people through.

Trust me, one of the primary temptations I face when visiting another church is a taking on a prideful smugness about how much better we are than these guys. How our worship is sweeter to God’s ears (not true), how our teachings are more deeply rooted in God’s word (who knows), how our members hear God’s voice clearer (like you could even know that!). If these thoughts and sins take over, then not only am I missing out on a chance to draw close to the Lord, I’m elevating myself and putting glory on my own church. This is something I have no desire to do.

So all said, God’s bringing my through this. I was able to worship and learn and engage when I visited his church that day.

One last thing – I have a few challenges to offer up to you:

– If you attend a traditional type church, have you taken the time to consider how your church operates, and what changes drastic or small could make a huge difference in member’s lives? Have you ever thought of attending a group with a radically different structure than your own?

– If you attend a house church/organic church/whatever type church, were you drawn to this type of church out of disdain or anger for the traditional church? Are you able to draw close to God and let distractions fade when attending a traditional church?

– If you don’t attend any church, examine in your heart why that is. If you have some specific reason about a specific church… well there’s lots of churches in the sea, don’t let a group of people be the thing preventing you from drawing close to God. If you just slowly faded away from God and/or the church… I can assure you he’d be glad to take you back.

Thanks for reading!