A few days ago a friend of mine decided to get into an exchange with me over my apparent inability to find a church worth attending; he thought my expectations were “too high.”
When I asked what he meant by my expectations being too high, he never really provided any specific examples. So, I gave him what I was looking for in a church.
He had no comebacks or rebuttals.
First, I expect that the church will be biblically centered or that it has a biblical worldview.
Now, that really ought to be a given and most churches pose that everything that they are doing is biblically centered.
But in most cases those who make up the church membership do not have a clue what the Bible teaches, much less do they actively defend or even live what the Bible mandates.
Instead, there is a sort of hodge podge conglomerate of conflicted ideas, philosophies, and personal opinions thrown into their “statement of faith,” that, when examined, do not jive with the Bible.
In other instances, the members simply discount the Bible as being erroneous, unreliable, or untrustworthy in some egregious way.
Calvin is mixed with Arminius, who is blended in with Schleiermacher, who is added to Lucado, with a dash of Kenyon, Hagin, Dollar, Osteen, Jakes, Hagee, Hickey, White, and Copeland on the side for good measure.
Even Joseph Smith of Mormon lore sneaks in the side door of some Christian churches and they end up becoming hotbeds of cult propaganda, if they have not already become such by embracing one or more of the former characters previously mentioned.
Probably worse than seeing all the confusion being presented as Christian belief is pointing out where all the confusion exists and having the pastoral leadership do absolutely nothing about it!
“No one is ‘perfect,’ after all; the church is made up of just a bunch of imperfect little sinners,” is often the justification. Who needs, “But examine everything; hold fast to that which is good” (1 Thess. 5 :20), when imperfection provides the perfect alibi?
So, if everyone is sitting around reading Max Lucado in their Sunday School, there is nothing wrong with it, since the attendees are simply imperfect and Lucado is a popular published author, which makes everything okay.
Well, I’m sorry, but if a church is in that kind of theological boat, floating about without any oars or a rudder, not knowing what it really believes, then given its departure from sound biblical teaching, I’m not interested in attending that kind of mess.
Second, I expect for the pastor to be the leader of the flock, not some self-appointed church committee or list of deacons who think more highly of themselves than the Bible gives them warrant.
After all, the biblical pastor is the under-shepherd of the Lord who has been called to lead the sheep, not yield his leadership to others who are not leaders, but are sheep themselves.
Sheep do not lead sheep, except maybe to wander away and get lost.
Pastoral leadership entails caring for the sheep, which involves making sure the sheep are fed, nurtured, and guided in their walk to the glory and honor of God.
What I have witnessed, though, over the past 40 years of being a Christian is the slow decline in actual pastoral leadership.
So-called pastors, in too many cases, no longer lead by example, but have subjected themselves to the whims of the world, which, in turn, has caused the sheep to seek “greener pastures” elsewhere.
And sadly, those same “pastors” do not care if the sheep wander away, so long as the pastors still have their jobs, a steady paycheck is coming in, and they have food in their bellies.
To those kinds of men I say, “No, thank you.” That is not my “expectation” of what a biblical pastor ought to be like.
Third, I expect for the church to have a mindset for outreach.
By that I mean, a church who cares not only for the lost enough to “Go” (Matt. 28:19a) and proclaim the good news of what Jesus did to redeem them, but also cares enough to attend to the needs of those already in the congregation.
Of course, in the former case that would imply that the church member know what the Gospel actually is, which most of them don’t, mainly because of the lack of a biblical worldview, as mentioned already before.
But, in the latter instance, it would mean humbling oneself, getting one’s hands dirty, or associating with those several pay grades below the visiting member’s social status.
Rather than being part of a church clique, the evangelistic or ministering Christian needs to renounce the clique as sin in the eyes of God and then go to the brother or sister in Christ, letting him or her know that he or she really matters (see 1 Cor. 12:12-ff.).
If there is one thing that gripes me more than anything, when it comes to most modern-day, church members, it is the simple fact that they don’t care about anyone outside of their little cliquish circles!
When such narcissism is coupled with their so-called “evangelism,” then it becomes even more evident why contemporary Christianity has nigh-unto-zero impact upon society and the issues it continues to struggle with.
It is also why in over 20 years I have never received a visit from any “Christian” church member, regardless of the denomination, status, or role in the church, to see whether or not I am well, not well, near death, or something worse.
Conversely, I have received numerous visits from cult members associated with the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons), which is disgusting!
If a church’s outreach amounts to nothing more than perpetuating phony-baloney evangelism and the advancement of any one of a number of cliques within its membership, then that is below my expectation of what a real Christian church is supposed to be all about.
So, are my expectations “too high” or was my friend merely making up excuses, like so many Christians do these days?
From my point-of-view, expecting a church to be biblically centered with a pastor called to lead the congregation, and the congregation has a heart for outreach, is what all Christians ought to expect!
Because if those three expectations are not met, then what do you really have in a group of people that regularly meet to supposedly fulfill some kind of mission statement, other than maybe another social club?
And who really needs that, when there are other social clubs out there that are more true to their callings, and less pretentious, than those who gather on most Sunday mornings and pretend to be something that they’re not?
