We were involved in yet another conversation about the imperfections of the local church. And imperfect they all are. But some folk seem to live under the illusion that the local congregation they belong to will cater to their crises, meet their needs, satisfy their longing for wonderful encounters with God and provide the best teaching possible, and do all this without requiring them to contribute a whole lot of their emotional, spiritual or financial resources in return. If you ever find the perfect church, as the saying goes, you’ll ruin it as soon as you join.
Yet the church is the bride of Christ, the forerunner of the city coming down out of heaven. We are called to model Christian community, worship and teaching in a way that draws people to Christ and provides a taste of heaven on earth.
The fact is we live in a tension between the real and the ideal. We can’t live in the ideal, but we desperately need it to draw us out of the real and on toward the goal. I have two suggestions that may help to bridge the gap.
The first is practical. It’s a lot easier to complain about church than it is to look in the mirror and admit our own imperfections, but that’s where we need to start. Why judge others by a standard we do not apply to ourselves? We need to allow a heavy dose of humility to shape our attitude toward our fellow church members. Ask God to deal with your heart instead of getting tied in knots about why he isn’t dealing with someone else’s.
My second suggestion is theological. Much of our trouble comes from the fact we can’t understand the difference between the kingdom and the church. The kingdom is the exercise of God’s rule and power. In Christ, the eternal power of God broke into human history in a way that had never happened before. The kingdom exists eternally outside of time and space. It is portrayed in the heavenly worship scenes of the book of Revelation. It enters human history every time God works his supernatural power through any of his people. The church is the human instrument through which the power of the kingdom is exercised, but it is not the kingdom. It is a group of imperfect people through whom the perfect love and power of Jesus are poured out into a needy world. The problem comes when we expect the church to look like the kingdom. That will not happen until the new Jerusalem descends from heaven and God people’s enter it.
Until that day, you and I are stuck with each other, and with that man or woman in the mirror. The amazing thing is that God chooses to exercise his kingdom power through us at all. But for that to happen, we desperately need strong local churches. God works through his people, not a bunch of lone rangers.
The New Testament churches were just as imperfect as ours. If they had all imploded due to complaints and divisions, where would that leave us today? Thankfully they learned to bridge the gap. And we need to do the same, for the sake of the generations to come.
Hang in there. It’s worth it in the end.
CONSIDER PARTNERING WITH DAVID & ELAINE CAMPBELL IN HELPING TO SUSTAIN THEIR ACTIVE MINISTRY.
AWAKENING MINISTRIES // FOUNDATION of FAITH Project
Foundation of Faith Project is strengthening generations in faith and bringing beautiful changes to the communities around them. Through teaching, mentoring and coaching, many are finding out who they are and who they are destined to be. They are bringing more to their world. David Campbell is the key leader in this initiative and you can support him financially directly through Awakening Ministries.
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