This has been on my heart for a long time. Don’t you know churchy folks always say everything that’s on their mind has been on their heart? 

Let me start over. This has been on my mind for a long time. Our pastor said something last Sunday that could not be said any better, but half the people in church today and most of the people outside the church would claw their eyes out before they would agree that this is a bad thing. ” People use to build around churches but now churches build around people.”

People come to church looking for something. Is it something that they are not finding in the world around them? I think so. What are they finding? In many cases, something not much different than what they already have. They leave the same way they came. Looking for something. I understand the desire to reach a world that is turned off by religion but the church must be a beacon, reaching out to those in need. And we are all in need.

So what am I saying? Just this….

Churches are full of people who desperately need to be there. There is a hole that is the shape of God in our hearts and most are desperately trying to fill this hole with whatever they can. They will never walk through those church doors but sometimes they do. What are they looking for? Maybe they don’t know. Maybe, but faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. What they need is the good news, not a pep talk.

Church folks assume that you know what that means and most that aren’t church folks are just too polite to ask, so the good news is that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Everything else is just details bringing you to a place of decision. Will you reject or receive? In many churches, nobody will ever know because they are so against most of Gods word that it is never mentioned.

Sin has become a four letter word. Sin has been repackaged, if it is mentioned at all. The world doesn’t want to be judged so the church focuses on being happy. It is a hard thing to repent from something you don’t believe to be wrong. Here is the part that scares me. A lot of  our church leaders don’t believe scripture . They don’t believe that it’s wrong either so off they go handing out false hope to their congregation that is starving, convinced that everything is fine. They might as well be playing a round of golf. They would be better off.

Church isn’t about beating you over the head with man made rules and regulations and trying to catch someone doing something that you swear you would never be guilty of, but rather lifting each other up and doing good. You really don’t know what that person has been through that you are looking down on, so maybe love is a more desirable byproduct of our faith.

The church also isn’t about withholding the truth in order to attract larger crowds. The church should never become like the world. Unfortunately, it is becoming very hard to distinguish between the two.

ws