'I love Jesus but I hate the Church.'
Have you heard this statement before? It seems to be a common one in today's Christian culture, especially among younger generations and college students. After hearing it too many times for it to be unique anymore and reflecting on the phrase quite a bit, I've decided to share my thoughts on it.
To get to the point, I do not commend this statement. I don't like it at all, to be honest, and there are various reasons for this.
First, let's take a deeper look at the phrase. The idea seems to be to abandon the unified body of believers and all that it has become today and pursue Jesus, which at first sat alright with me. I understand that the Church has hurt people in the past. The Church hurts people today. There are problems within the structured body of people that believe in Jesus, and the logical solution seems to be to leave an atmosphere that is not encouraging or loving. I was not unsettled about this idea until I realized this: to promote such an idea implies that spirituality is too individualistic to confine to an institution.
In the past, I've seen people close to me be hurt by people in the Church. I myself have attended churches that have obvious strengths as well as those with obvious shortcomings. I'm sure many of us have been the victim of cynics, legalists, gossips, the judgmental, or basically someone who claimed to represent Christ. The Church has hurt people in the past, is hurting people now, and will most likely continue to hurt people in the future. With all of this spiritual deterioration, why stay? Why wouldn't the solution be to simply leave the Church?
First, isolation sets up a playground for Satan. The concept of community is a beautiful one that every person is made for. As a Christian, I believe that every human being is made to love and be loved. This means that each of us is made to travel through life together. It's true that each of us needs to be in a relationship with God first, but it is equally true that each of us is made to love all of us! If we say we love God but refuse to love His people, do we really love God? Imagine if someone walked up to my Dad and said, 'Gary, I like you a lot. You're a really great guy and I'm glad we're friends. No offense, but I just can't stand your daughter!'
How would that go over with my Dad? Terribly! The best way to offend my Dad is to offend me, while the best way to win him over would be to love me. Likewise, to love God is to love His children, and if we promote the idea of not only leaving the Church but 'hating' the Church, how are we showing love?
Isolation not only affects how we love other people. Withdrawing from community allows Satan to attack each of us individually. We need other believers to pray with us, encourage us, and do life with us. If we strive to carry the weight of this world on our own, we will be crushed underneath it. We need God. We need each other. Loving God and loving people are one in the same-the two cannot be separated. If you are a believer in Christ, then you are the Church. If one member of the body decides to break off from the whole, both parts suffer, because the Church is similar to a puzzle in which every little piece is needed.
For those who claim we need to leave the Church and 'simply follow Jesus', I would like to point out this: Jesus endorsed the Church. Perhaps He did not mean it to become exactly what it has in some places, but as a unified organism, Jesus was in favor of the Church. He encouraged believers to gather together to fellowship in His name. In a universal sense, He found it important (Matthew 16:18).
Many people advocate leaving the Church because of the imperfections of the people, but there is one gargantuan issue with this mindset: the Church is made up of sinners. You will never find a perfect Church, and if you did, it would scare me away more than an imperfect one. A perfect Church is a delusion. Within every church body you will find elements of pride, hypocrisy, slander, and basically all of the sins James the brother of Jesus warns against in his book. What matters is not the presence of sin. What matters is the response to sin.
It may be the easy way out to walk away from a tough situation, but that does not make it the loving thing to do. Walking away from problems has the potential to increase the original issue. Walking away from problems also avoids biblical concepts such as confrontation, confession, and repentance. Where would the Ninivites had been if Jonah had kept running from God's call to go and help them? Where would deliverance had come from for the Israelites if Moses had been to afraid to step into the midst of a messy atmosphere? Perhaps God would've used other methods to bring relief, but if He's asked us to be vessels, why wouldn't we want to be used?
It's true that there are problems that develop within the Church today, but instead of advocating hate we should strive for compassion. If we really believe that every person is a new creation in Christ, and if we really believe that our God has won the victory over sin, then we should put our trust in Him to overwhelm the brokenness of this world. Our God is big enough to handle every issue-including those of the Church.
I'd argue that oftentimes the Church has been distorted from the image the disciples originally created for it to be and that perhaps sometimes Christians should reconsider much regarding fellowship. Instead of revolting against each other, we should come together to prayerfully consider how to restore the Church's original state. We need to remember what used to be good and how to get to that place again. We should constantly be asking ourselves what the purpose of the Church is and if every aspect of the body is working toward such purposes.
Gathering together with other believers helps us realize our own imperfections-helps us realize we all need grace. We are all sinners. What makes the Church unique is that we know we are sick, and we know the Great Healer. Christ did not come for the well but for the sick, and gathering together in His name reminds us that we need Him. It increases our awareness of our brokenness which yields way to an awareness of our beautifulness in Jesus.
I don't want to be a part of a Church that thinks perfection is the goal to live for. I want to be a part of a Church that knows brokenness is present. Love is the goal to strive for, and the fruit that will naturally come forth from living lives of love based in faith will be good, holy, and blameless. Let the Church arise. Let the Church come together not to aim for perfection but to address brokenness. Let us love. Let us commune and fellowship and declare we need Jesus.
I love Jesus. I also love the Church.
For further reading on this topic, view this article by my recent pastor Matt Morton: Should we forget the Church altogether?
