It was a long week. I felt sniped at by a handful of complaints from congregants. I was fighting for a spirit of gratitude as frustration grew in my heart. I stepped into a meeting and did my best to be present, but the inner critic’s voice was loud. I asked a simple question to kick things off: “Where is God growing you?” Tears welled in the eyes of the woman across from me. “New Life is my safe place, my growing place. New Life is my healing place. Every time I come to church, it feels like a hug.”
“Gracious words are like honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body” (Prov. 16:24).
Our church is far from perfect, starting with me. There was some truth to the criticism that had come to me that week. It would take me a few more days to sort out what ownership I needed to take. But in the meantime, God gave me encouragement through a glimpse into the sweet work he was doing in our church family.
God made us to reflect his glory, and for his church to image his Triune relationality. What we mean by that word is that the one true God existed from eternity past in perfect relational unity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Community is hard at times, and yet God made us image bearers to reflect his Triune relational harmony in our own relationships with one another.
In his final words to the apostles, Jesus audaciously prays to God the Father about this relationality, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them,” Why? “That they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, so that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (Jn 17:22-23). God’s glory is manifested to us by Jesus abiding in us and by our unity with one another, and that unity demonstrates God’s love to a world desperate for love.
It is not surprising then, that the Enemy would be hell-bent on bringing division to the church by infiltrating relationships between congregants to cause harm and hurt, and inducing Christians to give up on the church and turn on its leaders. The Enemy is called “the father of lies” (Jn 8:44), and “the accuser” (Rev. 12:10). The Enemy’s intent is to stir up discord and hated. If God’s means for demonstrating his love to people is through the church's unity, then we should not be surprised that unity is so hard-won. The most effective way for the Enemy to destroy unity in the church body is to make the church a place of pain and mistrust.
Anyone who has been part of a church has experienced hurt.
The greeting team ignores you because they’re busy talking to one another.
You come up to ask for prayer from the pastor, but he is distracted.
The pastor asks, “Are you new here?” for the third time.
The music is played poorly and loudly.
The pastor’s dense, monotone sermon communicates a lack of connection and care for his flock.
The pastor’s energetic, theologically flimsy sermon communicates a lack of integrity in his commitment to know and preach biblical truths.
Your confidential prayer request circles back to you from a third party.
Your friends suddenly leave the church, causing you to feel abandoned and confused.
You feel alone even at church and unable to develop deep relationships.
You feel taken for granted for your service to the church as weeks and months go by without words of gratitude or expressions of appreciation.
You’ve asked church leadership well in advance for financial transparency, and yet again, none is given at the next annual meeting.
Leaders are openly living in sin without being confronted.
We could go on and on. If you’ve been in a church longer than a week, the church has hurt you. We will inevitably be injured when we enter into any community, even the church, and maybe especially the church because we expect more from our spiritual family than we do our worldly friends. We risk attending a new small group, hoping to find connection in being heard, but instead leave disappointed and discouraged, having sat through a grandstander’s 90-minute monologue. We finally open up in sharing our ongoing struggle with sin, only to be given a quick surface-level prescription.
It’s not so surprising that some Christians are drawn to mega-churches.[i] They can provide anonymity and protect Christians from participating in authentic community (though, if you dive in, like any church, they are great places to find rich community). I recently spoke to a leader in town and asked where he went to church. “Oh, we go to X (a mega-church),” he shared. “We go there so no one recognizes us, and we don’t have to have any expectations on us.” He had pain from his experience at other churches, and his solution was now to hide in a crowd, with no actual participation in relationships or the church's mission. But is this really being part of the church?[ii] I know many more who have withdrawn from the local church altogether, choosing the safety of their group of friends instead.
To truly be part of the local church is to take the risk of vulnerability and transparency. It is being willing to open oneself up to pain and disappointment. It comes with the expectation to extend grace and forgiveness.
In Ezekiel 47, God gives Ezekiel a profound vision of the work he will do in broken people through the power of the Spirit. He describes a trickle of water that meanders through the temple deepening from ankle-deep to knee-deep to waist-deep, eventually forming into a mighty river. Ezekiel’s guide turns our eyes to the foliage on the banks of the river, “And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing” (Ez. 47:12). In this vision, we are shown that healing and renewal are for people and for the natural world. This language is picked up in the final chapter of Revelation, where the apostle John describes the new heavens and the new earth (Rev 22:2). But let’s not miss that while God’s work of healing the nations through the power of the Spirit is completed in the new heavens and the new earth, that work is also taking place today. The Spirit of God pours out from the new temple, the people of God, and is doing a transformative healing work in real time between the already and the not yet.
The humble aloe plant grows in abundance in the Arizona Sonoran Desert. It is so prevalent that many treat this cactus more like a weed than recognizing it as something worth cultivating. Like most cacti, its leaves are lined with spines that can injure someone. But the aloe plant holds in its succulent leaves a thick gel that is one of the most precious remedies for skin injuries. Likewise, the church, humble and often neglected, prickly on the outside at times, poses the threat of harm. But in her leaves, by the power of the Spirit, is also great power for healing.
I pray that New Life might more and more be a place of healing, not injury, of safety, and not harm. As it is in heaven, may it be on earth.
[i] It is estimated that 10% of American Christians attend megachurches, which represent .5% of churches. Warren Bird, “How Many Megachurches?” Leadership Network, https://leadnet.org/how_many_megachurches/.
[ii] My point here isn’t to pick on megachurches. Many megachurches do an excellent job of fostering rich community while many smaller churches fail to do likewise. My point is rather about the motivation of some Christians in choosing to attend megachurches for no other reason than self-protection.
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