Skip to main content

Why you should stay in an uncool church

I pastor an uncool church.  We don't have a fog machine.  Our worship leaders could not be described as the "worship band."  We are not interested in creating a feeling for people who come in our doors.  For this reason I appreciate this article by Michael Kelley.

3 Reasons to Stay in a Church That's Not Cool Enough


I'm amazed at how deep my own consumerism runs. This is most clearly visible to me at how righteously offended I feel when someone or something doesn’t measure up to my expectations. So when, for example, the internet in my home is running slowly, I immediately look for the person who I have determined is the right recipient of my indignation.
That’s right – I look for someone to be mat at… when the wireless signal in my upper middle class home isn’t fast enough for me to sit and watch the exact tv show I want to watch on this magic box called a computer which, incidentally, also has no wires.
Sheesh.
It gets really disturbing, though, when that consumerism infiltrates our attitude toward our local churches. And it surely does. At some point, most any of us who grew up in a Christianized culture are going to look around at our church, the one we have supposedly given our lives to through membership, and see that some other church in town has better music. Or a trendier vibe. Or better coffee. Or a more polished preacher. Or whatever. Our church has suddenly become not cool enough, and that same righteous indignation boils up inside of us because we believe we deserve something more… we deserve the best!
So we leave.
Now let’s be clear – I’m not talking about legitimate reasons to leave a church. Those are real. There are doctrinal issues that are worthy of dividing fellowship over. I’m not talking an issue of the integrity of the gospel; I’m talking about the nonsensical issues of preference that make us church shop whenever we feel a little restless. In this post, I’d like to argue for three reasons to do the very counter-cultural thing of actually staying in the church that’s simply not cool enough:
Read the rest HERE.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Grace Too Small

Last evening our sermon passage was found in Genesis 38.  It is an ugly passage.  It tells the story of Judah, his sons Er, Onan, and Shelah, and Er's wife Tamar.  Judah marries a Canaanite woman and has three sons.  His sons are so evil that God kills both Er and Onan for their wickedness.  Because Judah fears the loss of his remaining son, he fails to fulfill his obligation to Tamar of marrying her to his last son so that an heir might be raised up to Er.  Seeing the failure of her father-in-law, Tamar takes matters into her own hand by dressing as a prostitute and sleeping with Judah.  Judah, unaware of with whom he has had sex, subsequently hears that Tamar is pregnant by immorality. He demands that she be brought out and burned for her crime (can anyone say "hypocrite?").  Tamar then produces the evidence against her father-in-law and he relents.  The story ends with the birth of twin boys. I jokingly called the sermon the "Jerry ...

Getting Ready for Friday

Learn to know Christ and him crucified. Learn to sing to him, and say, "Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours. You have become what you were not so that I might become what I was not." --Martin Luther

Only One Life

Two little lines I heard one day, Traveling along life’s busy way; Bringing conviction to my heart, And from my mind would not depart; Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. Only one life, yes only one, Soon will its fleeting hours be done; Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet, And stand before His Judgment seat; Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. C. T. Studd