I love the church. She is the Bride of Christ. She is the battering ram in the hands of God to break down the gates of hell to plunder lost souls (Matthew 16:15.) She is the mystery of history, kept under wraps in the Old Testament and powerfully revealed in the New Testament (Ephesians 3:2-6.) She is the apple of Jesus’ eye and the primary instrument of his kingdom work on earth.
Once again I’ll declare it…I love the church!
Having said that, there are some things that confuse me about the way we tend to “do” church. Obviously these little rants don’t apply to every church but probably far more than we think. With these qualifications here are some of the things that confuse me about church:
…why do we spend more time making announcements than praying during the typical church service?
…why are worship songs so repetitive, so repetitive? Does the worship leader think we’ll forget the point, forget the point?
…why don’t we baptize new believers on the spot? After all, that’s what they did in the book of Acts, right? (See Acts 2:38-41.)
…why do pastors give the gospel on some Sundays but not on others? As if there are no unreached people in the congregation!
…why do so many pastors wait until Saturday night (or really early on Sunday morning) for the Spirit to lead them in their sermon preparation? After all, the Spirit is available on Monday and Tuesday too!
…why don’t pastors allow the congregation to ask questions during or after the sermon? (beside the fact that it would usually be the same crazy people asking the same kooky questions week after week.) On second thought I retract this entire point.
…why don’t we explain the potential consequences of taking communion in an “unworthy manner” (one of which is instant death according to 1 Corinthians 11:27-30!)
…why don’t we ever see church discipline in action?
…why do many church members spend way more time in meetings than on mission?
…why do we say that “Jesus died and rose again“? He only rose from the dead once, right? (My 11 year old son pointed this out to me.)
…why does it always seem that one power-mongering elder with an agenda gets appointed to every elder board (in spite of the fact that it counters the qualifications of being an elder according to 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1)?
Anyway, here are some of the things that confuse me about church. What are some of the things that confuse you?
