Today's Church

Today the Senior Pastor at our church, Pastor Larry Bennett, spoke his last sermon. He is resigning after some internal conflicts with members of our church after 17 years of godly-dedication and leadership. Having attended there for almost two years, my family and I came to love Pastor Bennett's commitment to teaching the Gospel and how we could apply it to our daily lives. It was TRUE Biblical teaching.

In the midst of the resignation, my family discussed whether we were going to leave the church or not because of the uncertainty that exists within its walls. For now, we are going to wait and see what direction God moves us. However, while browsing a list of area churches (and checking out their websites) it got me thinking about today's church. The realities of where we are right now.

Frankly, the Christian church needs a major face lift. Housewives of New Jersey style. Well, maybe not that drastic...

Before attending our current church, my family and I attended another local church for about three years. It was a great place and had a lot of great, godly people and I have a lot of good memories that I took away from there. I was baptized there. My daughter was dedicated there. However, after those three years I felt spiritually empty. Being young, both in age and in my spiritual journey, this church was very appealing. It had a Saturday night service that fit my lifestyle. The musical talent within the congregation was unbelievable (think a contemporary-Christian concert every weekend). I could wear shorts and a t-shirt to the service. People ate and drank coffee in the sanctuary. The main population of people were my age and at the same places in life. It had a good vibe.

Unfortunately, good vibes don't translate into spiritual growth. The sermons were educational, but they had no substance. Think of it as an exquisite steak and potatoes dinner with all the fixings. However, all you could eat were the potatoes. But, don't touch the steak! Would that fill your appetite? I know it didn't fill mine. In fact, I became so hungry that I started to skip dinner. I just lost my affection (and appetite) for the church and its message. This church that I loved became a coffee shop where people were more worried about the ingredients in their hot "cup o' joe" than they were about the ingredients of the church's sermons. It became more about lights and musical equipment than the message from the pulpit. The popular thing to do was to read "trendy" books that told us what to believe about the Bible and its teachings. Reflect on that for a second. Isn't there already a book that answers all of our questions? Isn't the Bible, although I wouldn't recommend this, the only book that should be on our shelves? Finally, one of the lasting memories I have, and it was eventually the straw that broke the camel's back, was when I sent an email to the Senior Pastor asking for prayer and consultation during a rough time for my father's business. This wasn't just some "Help!" email either. I spent hours on that thing. It could have been a small novel. Now, before you start thinking that my email went unread and unnoticed, I did get something back. It was a stock email that went something like the following: "We appreciate your email, but due to the high volume of emails that Pastor "X" gets, we cannot guarantee a response at this time. If it is an emergency, please call the church office at..."

I never did hear anything back.

Somehow, the pastor became bigger than the church.

Our generation (the 20-30 somethings) has a lot of ground to cover. The church isn't shaping society. Society is shaping the church. We have "so-called" Christians that are supporting gay marriage, abortion, and other familial issues all in the name of "peace, love, and save the whales" while dancing in the streets with homemade signs and body paint, but where are the Christians standing up for OUR issues? The issues that God made ours from the Bible itself. By no means should we be intolerant of the people associated with these issues; that has the opposite affect, but we need to continue to stand for Biblical principles. If that means getting political; we need to get political. If that means reinventing the church; we need to reinvent the church. I don't know about you, but this is a world that is filled with more evil than it is filled with good. I can hear you now, "How can you say that you crazy man?" Because we, humans and human nature, inherited sin. Read the first few chapters of the Bible. Everyday is a spiritual battle. Everyday is a ticking time bomb between ideologies that are fighting for air to continue to exist.

I'd rather die fighting for my God than my God dying for not fighting for Him. He is ultimately in charge of everything, but should that be an excuse to sit back and allow our values, morals, and our religion to be tainted beyond recognition?

We need to return our focus to Jesus and His Father's teachings.

We need to open the Bible and LET it TEACH us. It's no longer about going through the motions and playing pretend. It's about living out the Word of God and dying for His Name.

A very special person did the same thing upon a cross...didn't He?