"I Don't Go to Church"

This is the title of the first sermon series for The Source. Those of us on the launch team were asked to come up with perceived problems with the church. What are people's common critiques of the church? What are your critiques of the church? Why do you think people don't go to church? What is out there that gives the church a bad name? I must say, as a regular churchgoer, I had more fun with this than I should have. Here was my response in a nutshell.

1. I hate it when churches differentiate between who's in church or going to church and those who are not. Whether they label it as churchgoers and non-churchgoers, Christians and "real" Christians (if you really want to make me mad, start using that dichotomy), us and them, there's always that versus quality to it and also a snobby and country club feel to that language. We're so much better people because we go to a church. We're better people because we believe in God and the rest of the people are scum. Somewhere in there we've lost sight of the fact that we're all sinners and fall short (Romans) and that we're still fully sinners (simul iusuts et peccator or we're fully sinner and saint as Christians). Just because we're Christians doesn't make us any better than anyone else or any less suceptible to sin (see various church scandals, some of which I have experienced first hand at my home congregation). And yet, that judgment is still there. Judgment because of apperances. Judgment because of lifestyle choices. Judgment because of social status. Judgment because of jobs, etc. Apparently people just like to ignore verse about judge not lest ye be judged...

2. I hate when people make sacred cows out of things that are not sacred. The first commandment is we shall not have any other gods and the second is we shall not make idols. However, it seems that we have made sacred cows or idols out of things such as worship styles, reading creeds a certain way, using certain liturgies, bulletins, music styles, etc. "It's not real church if we aren't doing _____." It's not real church if we aren't using an organ. It's not Lutheran if we aren't using the Red Book, the LBW, or the ELW (various worship books we've used as a church to help us lead worship at churches). Yes, tradition is important but when tradition starts becoming a bigger deal than God, well, then we have a major problem. And I especially hate it when just because someplace is doing church a bit differently be it because of worship styles, songs, elements of the service, etc. others don't consider it real church. I'm sorry but that's BS! Even the Lutheran Confessions (theological principles that we as Lutheran adhere to) are on our side ("Church is wherever the Word is rightly preached and the sacraments are properly administered").

3. The church also is bad at using people as they are. The church expects people to fit into certain molds. They come up with volunteer positions and then try to find the people and make them fit into the roles rather than first meeting the people and then figuring out what best fits them and how to best use their unique gifts and talents. It's like writing a job description for a very specific and important position for a person you've never met and yet you expect it to fit perfectly. People are diverse and have diverse gifts and the church isn't necessarily good at respecting taht and best utilizing people's gifts.

4. Along with that same vein is the issue of clericalism: the expectation that people in charge whether it's the staff and the pastors especially are supposed to do everything. And the worse thing is, there are a lot of pastors out there who like it that way and encourage this! The pastors believe they're supposed to be doing it all and they have little or not respect for other people's gifts or ideas. The pastors aren't suppose to be the only ones running the church and reaching out into the world. We're all in this together and we all have gifts that can and need to be used.

So, those are some of my complaints and my reasons if I weren't already a churchgoer/pastor-to-be that I wouldn't go to church and/or reasons I find church very frustrating. If you have any more to add or you want to react to something, just make a comment!