Casual Church

In yesterday's post I wrote about the challenge of mediocrity. Today I want to continue the same line of thinking, but more specific to the church. I will be the first to tell you the church and God are not the same. I will also be the first to tell you that attendance in church is not necessarily an indicator of one's walk with Christ. I will however, remind us all the church is the body of Christ. The church is the singular plan to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The church is the tool God raised up in Christ to be the place disciples are formed, transforming and are transforming the world. Suffice to say I think the church is pretty important, and this really has nothing to do with me being a pastor. Long before I was a pastor the words spoken by many ring true, "The church is the hope of the world, and it rises and falls on leadership."

Having said the above, it is important to ask a follow up question. Why does the church repeatedly get the leftovers of peoples time? For most the church must yield on the schedule to everything else. Few are far between are people in the mainline/oldline churches who would actually even think about scheduling something around the church. No the church must adjust it's schedule to fit. I understand the pull in several directions, as I am often pulled by many good and important things. Still I find repeatedly the organization which is the embodiment of Christ in this world takes a back seat to nearly everything else.

I will confess the church has not ever been perfect. There are many things the church could improve. Yet that is hard to do is the commitment of the people of God is casual at best. Now there are people who pour their lives into serving God through the church, I say thank you, still there are too many where it is a matter of convenience and schedule availability. I am willing to say maybe I am missing the point. Maybe I don't understand it all well enough. Either way there is something very broken in the life of the church.