Today, as I worked out of a local Panera Bread today I overheard a very agitating conversation. A conversation that I wish I could just erase from my memory all together. There was a table of people (all in there 40’s or 50’s) directly behind me talking very loudly and rudely about area churches. They basically went through every local church I had ever heard of, and believe me with all the research we have done for Horizon’s launch I have a deep knowledge of the local churches, and shamelessly bashed them for one thing or another. No matter what the denomination, belief, or style they were shooting lasers at em’ all.
One lady shamelessly spoke about how she shopped several local churches looking for which one would, “give her what she needed to stay happy.” And even though no church could do that, she settled at the one who did the best job.
Then, the gentleman across from her spent ten minutes blasting a church for not adhering to a specific Biblical principle, and then proceed to explain why he thought churches were stupid for teaching that hell exists. The concept of hell was just too judgmental for him to believe. COME ON!
Now, I was sitting at my table quietly preparing a lesson for this weekend with Bible and laptop open, and I was embarrassed that other people around us, who could obviously hear them, might associate me with these people. Worse yet, when the conversation inevitably turned to their church, it turned out to be the church of a pastor that I know personally. I was just infuriated, because I know this is not what this man is teaching, yet these people will be viewed as the product of his teaching.
Here’s my point. The reason God’s kingdom is not moving closer towards unity is not because there are too many conflicting beliefs between denominations, it’s because of selfish, judgmental, hypocritical individuals. The church does not exist to make us feel good. The church exists to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the entire world and to educate everyone, through the Bible, on how we can better accomplish this goal.
Here’s my question as a concerned pastor of a new church: How can we stop our churches from producing people with attitudes like this, or is it just inevitable?