Just finished reading Keven DeYoung & Ted Kluck’s new book, “Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion.” With all the numerous ‘church-as-we-know-it-sucks’ books out there, this was a refreshing read. I read a lot of books and it seems that everybody is always ticked off at somebody. This book is a bit of a reaction to George Barna, Leonard Sweet, Brian McLaren, Donald Miller, & emerging church types.
Aside from the playful banter, I came away from this book with a renewed appreciation for my church and a stronger desire to serve there. I will leave you with some wise counsel from Kevin:
“Find a good local church, get involved, become a member, stay there for the long haul. Put away thoughts of revolution for a while and join the plodding visionaries. Go to church this Sunday and worship there in spirit and truth, be patient with your leaders, rejoice when the gospel is faithfully proclaimed, bear with those who hurt you, and give people the benefit of the doubt. While you are there, sing like you mean it, say hi to the teenager no one notices, welcome the blue hairs and the nose-ringed, volunteer for the nursery once in a while. And yes, bring your fried chicken to the potluck like everyone else, invite a friend to church, take the new couple out for coffee, give to the Christmas offering, be thankful someone vacuumed the carpet, enjoy the Sundays that click for you, pray extra hard on the Sundays that don’t, and do not despise ‘the day of small things’ (Zech 4:10)” (226-227).
Amen.
Amen. The local church is the agent through which God has chosen to extend His Kingdom. I think we have begun to portray our distaste for corrupt leadership and ineffective traditions on the church instead of realizing that those things will exist among believers under any circumstance because believers are human. While those who write such books criticizing the church think that they are attempting to reveal its imperfections for the sake of improvement, what they are really doing in most cases is further staining the reputation of Christians (and therefore, Christ) in the minds of unbelievers and believers alike.
Good post!
True that, Tiffany. You said it even better.
I think I could sum up my response to this post in one word: AMEN.
Not that I have read the book (although I’m sure I would enjoy it), but let’s not forget that often times we love things enough that we can’t allow them to stay the same.
Children are capable of turning out great, or not so great. Parents discipline their children because they believe too much in what they’re capable of being, not because they’re irreparable. And while good parenting should be heavy on the praise, there are times for corrective discipline.
If our words and deeds do little to promote the good things of the church and simply take potshots at her shortfalls, then perhaps we should examine our hearts. But loving, participatory engagement in making the church what she ought be is in the very spirit of what it means to be Pentecostal.
I totally agree, bro. But there is a difference between staying in the church, loving the church, and helping her become what she ought to be and leaving the church because it has failed. A lot of books out there define church as a ‘spiritual conversation at starbucks’. While this is in itself a good thing, we cannot forget the bride of Christ and her assembling together at a specific place for worship. There is a value to that.
Wherever Col. 3:16 is acted out I am happy. One thing to remember is that Jesus abolished worship from this mountain or that. He removed any specific ‘place’ from the equation.
That being said, I don’t think we disagree 🙂
Ps. How’s being a husband?