Church Confessions

I've been to about 1,000 church-type services since being a teenager (churches, conferences, youth groups, college groups...meetings with a music + sermon format). When I am honest with myself, I have to say that without a doubt, the vast majority of personally significant spiritual times have occurred outside of those meetings. That's crazy. For me, spiritually significant moments are almost always alone talking with God, or with 1 or several friends having a vulnerable conversation about Jesus and life. I can't remember a single sermon that I didn't get bored during, and didn't wish was shorter and more concise. More often than not, I have a difficult time remembering even a few short points from a sermon within days of listening to it. Many "worship" times (with the band and singing) still feel routine and a little fake. But I've had moments alone, singing to God, that overwhelmed me, and I heard and felt things there that were game-changers in my life.

I cannot speak for everyone, but I think this means it's probably important for me to prioritize spending lots of time alone with God, and talking with lots of smaller groups of people about life and Jesus in a vulnerable way. Complicated church services are not the reason I follow Jesus, or the reason I know that God is real. Come to think of it, the Bible doesn't really have many examples of bands playing 4-5 song sets + lengthy sermons preached by only one seminary-trained "pastor". That's a relief. If it were up to church service productions to prove that God was real, I think most of the churches would go out of business and people would stop being Christians. But the Good News is that Jesus is real, He loves me, He'll enter into any mess I am in to save me and free me without demanding that I become like someone else. Jesus brings love, peace, hope, and a greater-than-me power that nothing else can. And that's good. He'll have to change me, because I can't fix myself.

I think the two important things about church are the people and the Jesus. If any one person, or any process/routine/tradition becomes more important than or a substitute for people truly experiencing Jesus, then it's very bad (and makes for a lame event that reflects poorly on Christianity). Church can easily become a place where people act "professional", rather than real and vulnerable. Church now comes with a complete set of expected action, behaviors, and vocabulary. Churchy culture makes people feel like they have to do and say certain things. That can be a burden, and is not very freeing. I think we need to worry less about polished church service productions, and focus more on the reason we believe in God: Jesus is real, He loves us, and we can know and experience Him anytime and anywhere.

NOTE: I am NOT anti-church, and definitely not bashing churches or pastors (I guess I kinda am one and have one). I just think we need more Jesus in our lives, and modern American churches can way too easily provide and do a lot of things that are not necessarily Jesus. God can move in/through them, but the larger, more complicated, and more hierarchical a church is, the harder it is to make authentic and all about Jesus.  I just think there's something super nice about stripping away everything until it's just people 'n Jesus.