Ten Reasons the Church Doesn't Suck

Warning: I'm about to be real. And at my very core, my "real" is slightly sarcastic. So if you don't like real and slightly sarcastic, you probably won't like this post. You may want to try some of my other posts, as I am normally able to sand down the sarcastic edges before posting. But not today. Sorry. 

I read a fair number of "church blogs." Not blogs by churches necessarily, but more blogs about The Church, the condition of the church, the direction of the church, the leadership of the church, etc. And there is one genre of blog posts in this area that I'm ready to see die a slow and torturous death. It's the "Ten reasons the church sucks" post. It can take on many titles: "Ten reasons My church sucks," "Ten reasons Your church sucks," "Ten things your church should do so it won't suck," "Ten things my church did to change its suckiness, because obviously I'm so awesome that no church I attend or lead could ever suck." 

I'm not saying that there have never been times in history when the church needed to be called out. I'm not even saying that there aren't churches today that need to be called out. I'm CERTAINLY not saying that EACH of us individually doesn't need to be called out on occasion (perhaps on frequent occasions). If your church is teaching heresy, then by all means, nail your 95 theses to the door! But if you're griping about not having a coffee fellowship time before (or even instead of) Sunday school, just HUSH!

The focus of The Church should be to follow Christ, spread the Good News, and teach the scriptures. Period. The other stuff - the stuff that is almost exclusively pointed out in the Ten Reasons The Church Sucks blog genre is ancillary. The "stuff" can be used as tools to do those things, sure. Snappy music can attract a person into our doors who may never have heard the Good News. A coffee bar can encourage a new believer to come to Sunday school for some meaty scriptural teaching. A state of the art nursery can allow mom to relax and focus on a preacher's message. A rocking kids' program can attract families for miles around. But they are all just STUFF if we don't remember that the purpose is to GLORIFY GOD. Whining to the entire planet via your blog about the music in your church does NOT glorify God.

Honestly, if I was considering this idea of "the whole Jesus thing" and I read the "reviews" of the church that I'm seeing, I'd never want to be part of it. 

So, I said I'd give you ten reasons why the church doesn't suck. It's what I wanted to write. Really, it was. I didn't intentionally lie to you. But really, I can't tell you ten reasons why Your church doesn't suck. Only you can tell that! And that's what I want to encourage! Tell your story! Tell what you are learning in God's word. That great lesson your Sunday school teacher taught you? Tell how it impacted your life and thinking. Tell your brothers and sisters in Christ you love them. Tell how your kids came home from that program singing praises to God. Tell about the relationships you have formed with the ladies in your Bible study. Tell about how you have laughed, wept, and commiserated with your fellow moms who are trying to raise their children to love God. Tell how those couple of men in the church have served as mentors to you as a father seeking to lead your family in serving Him. Tell how God showed you the very same principle three times in the same week, through your Bible study, Sunday school, and the preacher's message--God using his implement, the church, to teach you in all three situations! Thousands of voices. Telling what God is doing in their lives, often through the church. Let's drown out those negative voices.

I don't want to get into a "Ten Reasons" battle with those who think they are edifying The Church by broadcasting everything they don't like about it. I want to tell the story of a church focused on following Christ and teaching God's word, clearly and completely. If that's not the reality in the body where you attend locally, find one where it is. There is no perfect church. We are called the "body of Christ," but oh, what an imperfect picture we are of Him. There will always be areas in need of improvement. Get in there. Be part of body life. Your strengths will encourage others in those areas. Your weaknesses will be strengthened by the believers around you. And, because the church reflects the characteristics of its members, as you grow, the church will also grow in its likeness to Christ!