disillusionment with church

This past week I have had several conversations with several different people that underscored a growing sentiment, a sentiment that Bev and I have been hearing for about five years. People are very disillusioned with the way we interpret and do church. Now before you disengage spiritually and intellectually with this statement, before you immediately assume that these people are somehow disgruntled church-goers who want to do things their own way, hear what I have to say.

Most of these kinds of conversations have been with people who either are or who have been in leadership in a local church, pastors, elders, people in music ministry, and deacons, etc. They are not disillusioned with God, with Jesus, or even with heart to heart transformational relationships. No these things are dear to their heart. What does deeply bother them is the lack of these things in their churches. What does deeply bother them is a sense that the system of church (the structure, the activities, the ministries) has taken precedence over both God and people. What does bother them is the lack of love for people. What does bother them is that when they begin to question the status quo, they are immediately dismissed at best and rejected and vilified at worst by those who seek to protect the church system.

A pastor wondered if it is even possible for the large church he led to be truly real and vulnerable. (He confessed that people in the church were sure that they were vulnerable but in reality were hiding behind facades.)

An elder wondered if anyone in his church would even relate to him if he wasn't an elder. Would anyone miss him if he quit attending Sunday services?

The wife of a person previously involved in music ministry expressed with sadness that when her husband was no longer "in ministry", people quit relating to her and even avoided her.

A couple that both participated in various leadership positions in church observed that they had gotten so busy in "ministry" in the church that they no longer had the time or energy to engage with people in a meaningful way.

The frequent reaction of people who seek to protect the church system is to quickly assume that something is somehow wrong with people I mentioned above. I know all of the listed people personally (and could have listed many, many more). Each person I referred to above is a follower of Jesus. They are not rebellious or trying to cause trouble. They are simply responding to what they see, the reality of their situation.

They have been to the top of the system and have discovered it to be empty. They fear that we have left the ways of following Jesus, exchanging active participation with Jesus in redeeming the world for busy church activities. They no longer have a desire to build a great ministry, a great church, or a great anything. They simply want be deeply involved in the redemptive work of God in the world, interacting with people in a way that God's transformational power is unleashed. They do not want to align with and to be identified by a specific group, ministry, or man. Rather they want to be aligned with and be identified by their participation with Jesus. On the other hand, they deeply yearn for God-centered personal relationships that will be both safe and challenging. Relationships that go beyond the "how are you? I'm fine" standard that defines many church relationships.

For the past number of years people from all types of theological persuasions have been prophesying that a new wineskin (to use Jesus' words), a new way of being church, (perhaps more accurately, a restoration of an old way being church) would emerge. We are seeing that emergence in the hearts of people.