Why I Love the Church

           Heard this one before?  “I love Jesus, but I just don’t like His Church.”  Or maybe this one: “Dear Jesus, save me from your followers.”  Now, I have to admit that second one is kind of clever, albeit awfully troubling.  It is also emblematic of an increasingly trendy idea, and one that I hear expressed more and more all the time.  There seems to be a great number of people who say they love Jesus, who think that what He said and what He stood for were great.  However, when it comes to the Church that claims His name so many years later, they want nothing to do with it.

Now, to be fair, I can appreciate where this comes from.  Let’s not kid ourselves, the church has done a number of things over the years that have been pretty unlovable (the Crusades come to mind.)  But it’s not just our past that’s the problem.  As nearly anyone with a news feed on their Facebook page can tell you, as a global church we still do a few too many things that are awfully unlovable today.  Hence the trend, and what has become one of the greatest challenges to face modern Christians.

So I’m here to say that, in spite of our past mistakes as a church, I want to buck the trend.  More than that, I want to boldly come out against it and say that I still love the church.  I realize that I may be in the minority on this.  I think even amongst those who would still call themselves Christians there’s less of a desire to admit you’re part of a church community, let alone claim a real love for it.  But not me.  I love the church.  In fact, in a weird sort of way, I think it is the flaws of the church that help remind me why I love it.

One of the biggest mistakes a church can make is when they start acting like a Cathedral for the Saints when nothing could be further from the truth.  The church has always been at its best when we remembered what we had originally been called to be: A hospital for sinners.  When you read the Bible and look at who Jesus called to be part of his original group of followers, the “original church,” they were all sinners.  People whose résumés were littered mistakes.  Résumés that didn’t improve all that much even after following Jesus, since they continued to make mistake after mistake.  But that was the point.  Perfect people didn’t need Jesus.  Only the ones with flaws and faults.  The ones who made mistakes and knew it.  People like the original followers.  People like me.

That’s my church, and why I love it.  It’s also why I hope people who want nothing to do with the church give it a second chance.  Maybe even a third, and a fourth after that.  Because no church will ever be perfect. In fact, the best ones will usually be far from it.  But if you’re looking for a welcoming group of imperfect people, the church is a perfect place for you.  As it turns out, Jesus designed it that way from the beginning.

Don't go to church, Be the Church!