The adventure that God launched me on mid-last year is rolling on, and I continue to be restored and transformed as I step out on to the next little patch of life that is lit up for me. This past week has brought the next step into focus.

Over the last couple of years I have become increasingly cynical about church, and some days Christians in general. More often than not, in my mind at least, there is a serious disconnect between the way Jesus acted and the way his followers act (including myself), and this has been a serious sticking point for me since part of the reason for Jesus’ presence on earth was to show us how to live.

It makes me ask serious questions about the reality of this whole religious system I’ve been a part of for 30 years, not to mention the infighting, denominationalism, and hundreds of years worth of war and abuse conducted in the name of God and the church. To the casual onlooker, and even some hardened pew sitters, it’s not hard to see that the church isn’t doing God any favours.

Don’t get me wrong…I love God…just having a hard time with the history and religion attached to him. I am so grateful to God for his ever present Comforter to guide and bring peace during these dark and disturbing times of my walk.

In the last month or so I’ve started to study, as part of my year-long focus, who Jesus is, what his life was like, how he interacted with others, what was important to him etc. My plan is to immerse myself in the Gospels this year in my private study. I am thirsty for the real deal….I have a yearning to be able to stand on solid rock after feeling like I’ve been adrift.

The New Testament refers to the body of believers (i.e. the Church) as the bride of Christ, and it speaks of Jesus, the groom, returning for her at some time in the future. For me the thought of a bride and groom on their wedding day is usually a happy one, a loving one, a picture of a relationship where the two parties cherish each other. If God cherishes the body of believers in the same way a groom cherishes his bride even though she is falling far short, what business do I have thinking of her in any other way?  This realisation has started a thought process that requires purposeful examination and work to expose why this cynicism  has developed and to allow the transformation to begin in my life.

Here’s a summary of why I need to cast off the cynicism and learn to love God’s dysfunctional bride again:

1. God loves her – The bride of Christ might not be doing a great job of emulating Jesus, but the fact of the matter is that God loved her to the point where he sent his Son to provide a way for her to be restored. God loves his dysfunctional bride and so must I.
2. She is NEVER going to be perfect – It feels like a cop out to throw my hands up in the air and stop expecting the church to act like Jesus. The thing is though, that I can’t control how the church acts. What I can control is how I act. In the words of Gandhi, my challenge for this year is to be the change I want to see…and let God do the rest.
3. God has a plan to use the church – The chief purpose of the church is to spread the good news about Jesus, to be His arms and legs to the world, and to provide an environment where believers can grow and spur each other on to action for His sake. I can’t be a follower of Jesus and not be a part of that….whether that be in institutional church or organic church, or wherever he chooses to use me. The body of believers must all work together in order to succeed in the task we’ve been given.
4. God works in spite of his dysfunctional bride – The fact of the matter is that I’m where I am now because I was part of the church. Around the world lives are being changed and restored by God through the church even though the world seems to identify her as a liability and threat rather than the beacon of love that she is intended to be. I would rather be working with God rather than against him.

I don’t know how this is going to work yet. It would be easy for me to hide, to closet myself away and just focus on getting to know Jesus. It would not only be the easy way to go, it would also be the lonely way to go, the whole point of following Jesus is that we are to exist as a community of Jesus-followers, staying away would rob me of the opportunity to stretch and grow and an entirely different dimension.  I also don’t know how to get rid of the cynicism at this point. I guess that will be part of the adventure too, as will trusting God to provide fellow travellers who are on the same path. One step at a time.

Have you ever had a time in your life where you haven’t been able to see God for the church? How did you shift your focus?

Related posts:

1. Journey versus Adventure
2. Looking back 12 months on

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