Problems for the Church

For those of you that don’t already know this, it’s been a rough summer for me. One that has been plagued with anxieties, change and the overall fear of missing out. All of my friends are out working in a church doing ministry, then theres me… Working the most secular job you can find… a chicken plant. Although I poke fun at it and I tell other church folk that I’m “doing chicken plant ministry” I’ve actually learned a lot. This is a very secular job filled with people with many different types of addictions, people who are very well educated and just the average joe. This workplace can be very discouraging and hard at times. You will be told that you aren’t doing enough and you aren’t working hard enough even when you seem to be trying your all. This is a place that doesn’t breed positivity. It’s a very spiritually dark environment. This following post is directed at the Christian, the church leader and the pastor.

If you didn’t already know this, I love people and I love to figure people out. Sometimes it comes across and very intrusive and there aren’t a lot of questions that I’m scared to ask.

First things first, I’m going to address Christians as a whole. we have a very, very, big issue. What’s the issue you ask? well, I figured out we had a problem when I started telling people in the workplace I am studying church planting. While having a conversation with one individual about what church planting is they jumped to the conclusion of “So you’re a Christian, so you HATE gays?”. This is not an uncommon misconception, I have heard this more than once. Another individual, although comical, has an underlying tone to it. “I’m studying church planting!! So someday I plan to go out somewheres in the world and start a church” “Did you say CHURCH planting? SHIT, I guess I better stop swearing so much!!!” Another talked about how every church he attended the pastor would shout and exclaim that they need to give more so they could have this big house built up in heaven for them and God would give them whatever they could dream of. The final one that stood out to me was “People see church people coming and think to themselves there goes all our fun.”

The underlying tone in all of these messages, although some more serious than the others, is that people have the conception that we think we are better than them. The looks and comments that I have heard have been hard but eye opening. The first thing we need to understand is we are supposed to love people and love them well. Although we might not agree with someones choices we must love them. Love the people not their decisions, after all, we are all sinners, we all have a past and we all make poor choices. My biggest issue with this is, and I have asked myself this countless times is “where in the world are people hearing this kinda stuff?” its not something that should be, but its a reality we face. Words and actions can impact someone in a very real way. We can say we are being accepting and understanding, but are we really? Are you saying you accept them but standing in the corner with your arms crossed or are you going up and giving them a pat on the shoulder and trying to have a genuine conversation caring for the persons well-being? “Thats the pastors job, not MINE!” Actually, its all of our jobs to love people the best we know how, in whatever way that looks like. I think we need to remember how Jesus showed humility by washing his disciples feet. Of course its not healthy to love on a deep intimate level with every person we encounter, but its important to show humility to remember where you came from and be able to show them our outward change in our hearts by our servanthood. The voices of hate are amplified in the media and all around us, the opinions and hatred of the few, are pushed towards the many. Even though a small majority of people go around telling people that God hates you because you did this are louder than the ones who are speaking the hope of the Gospel.

Even though a small majority of people go around telling people that God hates you because you did so and so, are louder than the ones who are speaking the hope of the Gospel. It’s important to remember that we need to keep giving people hope and loving on people well.

The second thing I wanted to address is this, I’ve had encounters with people, young and older and I’ve asked questions that would give me insights to why people either don’t believe or don’t attend church. People in their mid twenties to thirties tend to have somewhat of a church background. They either grew up going to church with their parents or they attended church while being a teenager to a young adult. Almost all of the answers were as followed “I went to a church when I was younger but I got hurt by them.” Some churches financially took advantage of them, told them they were going to hell because of their choices or made them to feel awful about themselves like they could never do enough to earn God’s grace. This one is to the church leaders and to the pastors.

This is the issue, this isn’t just a few people, its the reality of the secular world. Very few people seem to believe there isn’t anything out there, they might not know what they believe, but hardly anyone says “there isn’t anything out there.” But most these people wouldn’t step foot back into a church because they are “all the same.”

The question is always asked “what makes a person attend church?” which is so over-asked and inner-focused its not the right question we need to be asking. What if we asked “What makes a person not attend church?” What if we focused on the things that are making people turn their noses up at the church, or those “taboo” topics that the church seems to hide and is only talked about one on one because it might make some people uncomfortable?

“well we know why people won’t come to church” then what are you doing about it? how are you meeting the needs in the community, the actual needs instead of the broad “we are trying to meet sinners to bring them to faith in Jesus.” How about figuring out if there is a heavy population of people who have been hurt by the church, and aiming to do something to attract and reach those specific people. Think intimate, think real, think intentional. I get trying to get people to fill out connection-cards and stuff is important, but what about actually trying to have an intimate, real, raw conversation with these people to try and bring them back to a place of where they truly hear the gospel.

Being a gospel focused church is ever-so important. The Gospel in its essence is offensive to the world, but just because the gospel is offensive, you don’t have to be. Preach hope, talk hope, live hope. Going in guns blazing tell people that they are going to burn in hell isn’t the way to build relationships, at all. I have had so many genuine and real conversations with people about not only faith, but their issues, their struggles. It’s all about relationships. Our focus shouldn’t be numbers and never should have been about numbers, our goal and ministries should funnel into small groups where people can grow and ask intimate questions about their faith and just be real. One thing I’ve learned from working in this place is this, people just want to be heard. People want to be cared for, people want to understand that they aren’t just another number. I can’t even fully grasp what some of these people went through and still are going through. People have been so hurt that they are looking for something to fill these gaps in their lives that they just can’t explain; and I was at that point as well. Strength is found in community. The world is so disconnected with social media, loneliness, depression, anxiety, and how is the church community being accepting to these things?

I want to end with this, please remember that its all about this: Relationships. I always tell people in the church its all about adapting, not compromising. Adapt to the changes that we see before us, but don’t compromise on the power and the truth of the Gospel.