The ZigZag Café
We will be convening here at the ZigZag café, Suisse, on Thursdays for conversation and dialogue. I invite you to stop by every Thursday for the question of the day. Your thoughts and participation are most welcome. Pull up a stool, avec un café, un thé, ou un chocolat chaud, et un croissant, and join in here on Thursday at the ZZ café.
For today:
So many people seem to be quitting church. Why do you think this is the case and should something be done to change it?
10 comments:
I know why I left... and it was because I was frustrated to see people who claimed to be so in love with Jesus and their quiet times, but completely defeated, given to immorality OR completely asleep to anything going on in the world... I also felt disillusioned with who God is and what the Christian life is and with what the church is supposed to be.... part of me also wanted to do what I wanted to do.
I think the church is light on spiritual warfare. I think this is a big reason... perhaps the mainstream church loves the spirit of religion rather than walking by the spirit?
Yes. Prayer. Humility. Repentance. Take the focus off of ourselves and what we are entitled to and be the church we are called to be. On the other hand, the folks who left the church need to be careful not to justify the wicked while condemning the just. We are meant to be in community with other believers and this is very uncomfortable... it means sitting beside someone who we believe might have a wrong interpretation of a text, or really you could fill in a blank. I think as God's people we have to be willing to work out our faith with fear and trembling being distinct from the world, not blending until we are silenced chameleons... waiting for the opportunity to share our faith - an opportunity that never comes because we are still so absorbed in getting our own needs met and angry about how the church or God hasn't met them.
This has been my own experience.
When I consider leaving my church, it is generally because of the politics of church governance hindering delivery. I was reading in Ezekiel 34 this week, and verses1-6 spoke loudly to me. The focus of the church should be to strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the injured. So I must recommit myself to move the church I attend in that direction.
Anon,
Thanks. I appreciate your perspective and join your critique.
Good balance here between identifying some of the problems, including our own, yet suggesting that we have another direction ad calling. Thankfully, God is with us as we work out our salvation in fear and trembling.
I think sometimes some of the mainline denominations have very little space for people to be real and struggle through things.
In contrast, some of the modern churches are almost pushing for realness and vulnerability in a way that invades people's boundaries.
I'd like to see lives that interact naturally being part of the same faith community. I'm not sure what the answers are to make this happen. The closest I saw this happen was in Uganda, largely because most people didn't own cars and were together more.
Despite the fractures and the quitting, I miss church if I haven't been there for awhile. Something about a congregation of imperfect people worshiping the Living God is beautiful.
Carter,
Thanks. Those are great focuses. Moving churches in these directions will be pleasing to God.
Angela,
Thanks. Excellent observations and suggestions. Something has to change and we should be part of it.
I agree very much with Anon. I am often frustrated with the hypocrisy within the church, although I must admit that I forget that I, too, am one. Sometimes I doubt God and/or the relationship that I do/don't/should have with him/her.
I also agree with Angela. When I am at my most alienated from my church, I still miss the communal aspect of worship.
I have also looked at my prior post. It looks like the answer one would give a sunday school teacher because "it's the right one."
The church seems to be more focused today with making sure the wrong people don't get in than in making sure that anyone and everyone should get in. Throwing up walls rather than opening up doors.
Carter,
Indeed. Breaking down the walls is part of our calling. The prominence of the moral breakdown in the church will continue to have a negative impact. We need to redemptively and with the help of God begin to get our house in order if church, and its proper relation to the KOG, is going to be sustainable.
Maybe quitting church will not be such a bad thing if it's a wake up call that has a renewing affect.
And upon leaving the church, I can incorporate myself as a 501(c)(3) and get a tax break for the purchase of communion wine!
Carter,
Cheeerss!
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