Sometime ago I met up with an old friend and we began talking about our respective churches and what the Lord was doing there. I started talking about all the wonderful things the Lord was doing and every time I said some positive he would say something completely opposite and negative.
“The worship at my church is stale… The preaching uninteresting and dull. In fact I think there is something wrong with my pastor… I am not getting the word…the music is dated and boring… The people are unfriendly and narrow-minded…” he went on and on!
Frankly, I couldn’t wait for him to finish so I could tell him to repent… Yeah really – Dude you need to REPENT!
I think if we want to hear from God and experience his power through his word, be stirred and lifted into the presence of God through the song we use to worship, and find joy and deep and meaningful relationships in the place we call our church… we need to start by repenting of our sin, humbling ourselves and truly believing and trusting in Jesus.
Yeah, repent and believe and humble yourself. Because the real problem is not your pastor and his messages. It is not the songs you call boring. It is not the people you call unfriendly and narrow-minded.
The problem is you!
Amen, we need revival, brother! God bless you.
So many people want to be served instead of serving. Many, many “improvements” have been made to worship simply because someone found it “dull or outdated” and needed to entertained. Square one is that so many people just don’t understand what worship is meant to be about.
right on Eugene!
Its always a good idea to start by looking at ourselves when these symptoms show up. If a lot of people in that church feel the same way chances are something is not well there. It can look great from the outside yet have serious issues developing under the surface. Might be interesting to probe what’s driving your friend’s behavior to find out what’s frustrating him. Moving churches because of unresolved frustration is always a bad idea for everyone.
I think you make a valid point as well my brother… but my friend is one of those guys who think they know better and can do better than their pastor and is always trying to find fault. It’s all about them and how they think things should be run… and if they can’t run it than their goal is to ruin it by gossip, insubordination and strife. I know my friend very well, he is gifted, and talented, and probably could do a good job himself, but where is the humility, where is the team spirit, where is is the heart of a servant. Some people just don’t like to follow. I guess I was a little too hard on him when I told him to repent. But I felt his heart was not in the right place and was obligated to tell him the truth. By the way, I know a lot of people who attend that church and I think they feel differently about the church than my friend does.
Another valid point you make is the idea of how every body hurts when people move to another church because of unresolved frustration. I don’t think anyone should leave his/her church because of unresolved frustration. I think they should do the mature thing – by following the biblical principles of resolving conflicts and frustration. I think it’s better to stay and work those differences out. Frankly, this is pleasing to the Lord and brings Him glory.
However, if a person can’t follow the biblical guidelines and principles, than I guess for the sake of peace this person should just find somewhere else to worship. If I am the pastor I am not going to tell him, I am just going to pray for him. My spiritual father told me something years ago – he said – “you pray some into the church and you pray some out of the church” (speaking of some people that are divisive). For many years I disagreed with him… argued with him about this… how can you pray people out of the church? But now I understand. I’ve had the priviledge of dealing with people that are just mean, rude, divisive, judgmental, slanderous, and sometimes cruel. One guy told me, “I’m going to be a pain in your neck as long as you are here.” Trust me you don’t want that kind of spirit in your church. It spreads like wild fire. All I do is pray… Lord, change their hearts, deliver them from the grip of the devil, but Lord if they refuse to allow you to work in their lives – please send them somewhere else… please. Guess what, my prayers work all the time… some of the most cruel people turn around and become very good friends and some of my greatest supporters and others, well, are still moving from church to church terrorizing pastors.
Forgive me for saying too much! I stand to be corrected and welcome other opinions!
Blessings in the Lord!
Well said! You also remind me of the place creative conflict can have in church life – we get so terrified of disagreement that we stifle it when we need to learn how to address issues and steer the conflict to produce transformation. Thanks for being there for your friend.
I understand where your friend is coming from.
Has anything happened with in your friends church.Because it sounds like it could be in apathy.Change doesn’t hurt a church it could bring a new freshness to it.
Hey arm5… Thanks for a very good perspective!
My friend’s church is a great church and his pastor is awesome. I think most of the people who attend that church would disagree with my friend’s criticism. I think he thought he could get to participate in a gossip session. I agree with you that every church needs to change, and most diffinately an awakening and revival from time to time. But when people get critical because of personal issues and dislikes or matters of style, than I think they need to check their spirit to see if they are not being motivated by something else.
As a matter of personal example: I attended a church for more than three years and I never liked the music, but I learned to worship and connect with the Lord. I learned to love my pastor, and pray fo him and support him, even though he was not the greatest communicator in the world. If we could just develop a humble, repentent heart, we can serve the Lord where ever he plants us.
Finally, if we cannot lift our pastors and churches constantly in prayer,stop being mean spirited, negative and slanderous, and show a genuine concern and love for their well being than maybe it’ time to find another church.
This is what I was trying to teach or show my friend.
Thanks for the comment and God bless!
May be time for revival.. I’ll Pray… Blessings Bro Pat.