DISTURBED ENOUGH TO WHINE ABOUT IT

I am among thousands who find themselves disturbed with the Church in America overall. Oh, there are some bright spots, but as time goes on our culture further disengages from the institutional Church in America. Or maybe it is the Church in America who is disengaging from our culture.

It is true that in my recruiting efforts I am finding people every week who are disturbed by what they have experienced or are experiencing in the institutional church. Some are laypeople who love Jesus and others are pastors or former pastors who love Jesus. But they are Disturbed! Where do they or we turn?

This past Sunday I did my own experiment. I drove through my community. Some of the Churches has a pretty good parking lot of cars, while others did not. What impacted me most was not how many were attending Church but those who were skipping. I saw people in great numbers at WalMart, gas stations, grocery stores, driving down the road, working in their yards, golfing, swimming, walking their dogs. Just to mention a few Sunday activites.

These church skippers were certainly not lazy. The ones I saw were not lazy - because what they were doing proved that. They were out of bed doing stuff. And, they were not uncommitted, I saw the opposite. Everone I saw skipping Church (if that was truly what they were doing) they were certainly not uncommitted. Everyone I saw was committed to something. They were giving it there all.

My point! I'm just disturbed with the focus of the church in general. We build everything towards Sunday and we leave the rest of the world out of our lives. Is this really what Jesus had in mind? I'm disturbed by our ineffectiveness to reach our culture in America. I'm disturbed about so many things in the church that I cannot write them all down.

I'm disturbed! Maybe you are disturbed. Maybe some of you are disturbed about what I write about being disturbed about. Are you disturbed enough to tell me what you really think?

Some of you may even be disturbed by the fact that I was among the church skippers in America this past Sunday.