A different kind of church

Have you ever heard the expression "He's his own worst enemy."  Unfortunately, I think sometimes that can be true of the Christian Church.   If the statistics are true (and I suspect they are) in New England 80% of the population is not actively involved in any church.  Most of those people do claim to believe in God, but relatively few are interested in the church.  Among certain segments of the population (notably, teens and young adults) the number is even higher.

Why is that?  We could blame it on our secularized culture.  We could attribute this disconnect to the movies, television, or Rock and Roll.  We could blame the devil.  But the truth of the matter is, that to a great extent, we have been our own worst enemy.  We've taken the worship of God, something that ought to be dynamic, exciting, even life changing and we've make it routine, dull and irrelevant.  We have too often exchanged the love of Christ for a Pharisaical judgmentalism.  We've taken the Good News and made it feel to many as if it were bad news.  Consequently, those looking in from the outside see the church as boring, irrelevant, judgmental and hypocritical.

 But that is not the church I know.  Many of the churches I know worship in a way that is joyful, uplifting and very relevant to daily life.  Most of the Christians I know are loving, generous, caring people who would do almost anything to help another person in need.  The Christians I know are not marching around, carrying signs that say "God hates" or "burn in hell".  To the contrary, they are reaching out to the least and the lost with the love of Christ.

Unfortunately, the way things are right now, most people will never know that.  Somehow we, as the people of God, have to break through the stereotypes.  Between now and Easter, I will be teaching a new series entitled "No Perfect People."  The purpose of this series is two fold.  It is to help us as a church better understand and connect to those outside the church.  And it is to help those who might come as guests to experience a different kind of church.   So, I hope you will be there, and I hope you will invite an unchurched friend, neighbor or family member. 

When you have a few minutes to kill, check out www.no-perfect-people.com.