12 Things that Still Surprise Me about Churches

If you read this blog often, you know I love the local church. That doesn’t mean, though, that the local church never drives me crazy. In fact, here are things that still surprise me about churches after 44+ years in ministry:

1. Many still think the church belongs to them. No, they’d never say those words (instead, they’d say, “This is God’s church”), but they protect their turf and their traditions like guarding their home.
2. They continually allow boring, stuck-in-their-ways Bible study teachers to lead classes. As pastoral and respectful as I want to be toward faithful people, I don’t understand why we don’t insist on change in those situations – including requiring that teacher to get some training or step down.
3. They talk about prayer a lot more than they pray. We can’t do what God has called us to do as His church, but still we lean on ourselves and our experience more than on God.
4. Some assume that grace allows accepting less than excellence. Grace forgives us when we don’t meet God’s standards, but it doesn’t allow us to give less than our best to the work of God.
5. Some apparently think that ongoing, open sin among leaders is not a problem. At least, it appears that way when churches have no commitment to godly, redemptive church discipline.
6. They’ve become a place of retreat from the world rather than a place to get re-armed for the war. We’re in a spiritual battle (Eph 6:10-12), and the church should gather for encouragement to go out into the conflict again – not to cower and complain about the enemy.
7. They aren’t broken over the lostness of their neighbors and the nations. Long gone are the tears over hell that compel us to tell others about Jesus. I wrestle here, too, so I share this burden.
8. Many don’t see their church building as an outsider would. Rather, they completely miss the weeds in the parking lot, the dated colors in the room, the worn carpet in the worship center, the odor in the basement, etc.
9. They think it’s everybody else’s responsibility to come to them. “Everybody in this community knows where we are,” I’ve heard it said.
10. Many still exhibit racism and prejudice. The gospel breaks down those barriers, but some people and churches haven’t let that happen.
11. Many focus on numbers without asking the source of those numbers. That is, all they want to know is that they’re growing; they’re not concerned about whether that growth comes from reaching non-believers or simply “swapping sheep” with other churches. 
12. They’re not often “up to date” on the demographics of their community. They know they’re supposed to reach their community, but they can’t tell you much about the people who actually live there. 

I say it again even as I write this post: I love the local church. We just have a long way to go . . . .