Attending the local Evangelical church had been a revelation to Sal. Brought up in a one-parent home with an agnostic mother, and brothers who were self-confessed atheists, it had been a new world to her. What struck her first – before anything the preacher said – was the people’s warmth. Unlike others she had known, these Christians were unconditionally kind and accepting.
At first this made her suspicious. What were they after? Eventually she realised their love was sincere and then she started listening to the preacher. Each Sunday his unexceptional preaching conveyed an exceptional message about the love of Christ.
Soon she saw herself as never before – a sinner under God’s anger. She was also a sinner under conviction and at 3am one morning, on her knees before a tear-stained Bible, she became a sinner saved by God’s grace!
Soon Sal was baptised and welcomed into fellowship at a moving service. Her mother came, her brothers didn’t. But their jibes about taking religion too seriously didn’t matter any more. She was now a child of God!
Verbal carvery
Weeks ran into months and every fellowship meeting was pure joy. But this wasn’t to last forever. Suddenly, it was as if a filter was removed from Sal’s eyes that had previously stopped her seeing church life clearly. It hit her with devastating force – the church she had joined wasn’t perfect.
There were still some inspiring people around but others less so. Recently a rumour had surfaced that two Sunday school teachers hadn’t been speaking for years. She noticed that as she became friendly with one group of people, another group pulled away and became harder to integrate with.
One Sunday she was invited to lunch by a couple. Two other prominent members came and over a hot roast meal proceeded to verbally carve up the fellowship and grumble about the direction the church was going – what did Sal think?
Attending a summer conference was a welcome break. On returning she tried to be more positive but it wasn’t easy. Why couldn’t pastor preach like the conference speaker? Why so many old hymns and not more contemporary ones? Why doesn’t Mr Brown see a specialist about that hacking cough?
Still, Sal consoled herself, her mother had recently promised to come to church in a few weeks. It was then that the scandal broke.
How could this happen?
One evening after church a special members meeting was called. A pale faced pastor stood before the congregation to announce that one of the deacons had committed adultery with another member.
The man and woman concerned had refused to speak to the pastor and 24 hours ago had vanished together. Sal couldn’t believe it. How could this happen in a church? As the meeting broke up she left quickly. Moving toward the door she overheard someone mutter that they were resigning from membership.
Maybe she should too? How could she bring her mother here now? Suddenly her brothers’ taunts came back to her – ‘Christians are hypocrites! People in the world live better lives than people in church!’ Maybe they were right. Perhaps it was time to cut and run. With all that had happened, how could she continue here? How could she love this imperfect church?
A familiar story
The above story is fictional yet many Christians will identify with it. Our backgrounds may not be the same as Sal’s and the details of her experience may be different to ours. But most of us have at times been deeply disappointed with the church.
Whether because of relationship difficulties, moral failure in leadership, or the frustration of being in a flawed fellowship – there have been times when it would have been easier to leave the imperfect church than to love it.
I want to mention here a few things that might help people like Sal to come to terms with life in the imperfect church. Of course it goes without saying that the imperfect church I have in mind is still a genuine church – one where the Word of God is faithfully taught, baptism and the Lord’s supper administered, and church discipline lovingly applied when necessary.
A sympathetic Saviour
The first thing to realise is that Jesus sympathises with our disappointment. While on earth he was surrounded by imperfect disciples. They bickered over power (Luke 9:46); had wavering faith (Mark 4:36-41); misunderstood his teaching (Matthew 16:5-11); were channels of temptation (Matthew 16:23); and even denied and deserted him (Mark 14:50, 67, 68).
There is also evidence that some disciples were more spiritual than others (John 13:23). At times this caused tension, as some seemed to move too quickly for the rest, while others seemed to hold the whole discipleship programme back.
Finally, it was a ‘disciple’ who colluded with Jesus’ enemies to facilitate his arrest and death (John 18:1-5). So Jesus knew what it was to live with an imperfect church. He understands our pain when fellowship life disappoints and discourages us. He knows that believers can be a paradoxical mixture of faith and unbelief.
A work in progress
The second thing to realise is that the local church is a work in progress. Much frustration comes when we forget this.
Of course, it is important that we take God’s Word seriously when it portrays the high calling of the church. Yet a glance at 1 Corinthians, for example, should leave us in no doubt that even in a thriving fellowship, established and instructed by an apostle, believers can fall drastically short of the ideal.
At Corinth Paul had to address personality cults (1 Corinthians 1:11-12); division (11:18); immorality (5:1); spiritual insensitivity (8:12); and Christians suing each other (6:1) – all in one congregation! If this went on in the 1st century church we ought not to be blown away when similar sins surface in the 21st century church.
Coupled to this is the fact that every fellowship is a mixed community containing Christians of varying degrees of maturity. Some will be recent converts with lots of rough edges, while others will be ‘old hands’ who hopefully demonstrate spiritual stability. Sadly the latter isn’t always so, and some believers who once burned brightly for Christ have grown cold and backslidden. Others attend but do not believe.
If we bear these things in mind it will keep us balanced in our expectations of church life. Every Christian, and therefore every church, is a work in progress.
Central to God’s purpose
Amid these observations there is something else to remember. Despite all its imperfections the church is still central to God’s plans and purposes for our world. Paul says that God’s church is the ‘pillar and ground of the truth’ (1 Timothy 3:15). It bears the unique responsibility of supporting and displaying the gospel in a dying world. Where no church exists, society is immersed in spiritual ignorance.
The church is also ‘salt and light’ that flavours, disinfects and dispels spiritual corruption in people’s lives (Matthew 5:13,14). Perhaps we think modern society stinks, but imagine what it would be like if the church were completely absent (there are lands where this is effectively true today!)
A patient God
In our more negative moments it is healthy to remind ourselves that God’s attitude toward the imperfect church is always more generous than ours. There may be times when false teaching, sin and spiritual apathy so corrupt a fellowship that the Holy Spirit withdraws his blessing. Nonetheless, God suffers longer than we might expect.
Just look at his dealings with Israel in the Old Testament. Again and again we see the Lord protecting and nourishing a wayward nation who were set on sin. Even when the Lord did eventually send the remnant of his people into exile, it was with the long term goal of refining, retrieving and restoring them.
Ought we not to let God’s patience and mercy with his ancient people inform our attitude toward his people today?
We see this divine mercy again in his dealings with the New Testament church. Jesus was patient with its early members while he physically shared their company on earth. He is patient with its ongoing membership as he supervises its growth and development from heaven.
Just look at the sobering warnings given to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3. Some of these letters could easily have been messages of irreversible condemnation. Yet despite the failings of these fellowships, the glorified Christ writes with the aim of repairing not demolishing.
By keeping this in mind we won’t rush to write off our own local church when it passes through difficult days. Rather, like Christ himself, we will seek to restore it to spiritual prosperity.
