I can think of plenty of reasons to say church is irrelevant: I don’t like the preaching, there’s too much singing, there’s not enough singing, the music’s too loud, it’s too showy, it’s too boring, the seats aren’t comfortable, the seats are movie theater chairs and not pews, there isn’t any stained glass, there’s no one my age, they use the “wrong” Bible translation. And on and on. But when I read back over that list, none of that has anything to do with what really makes church relevant or not. All that list says is: “I should start my own church so that it can be just like I want it to be.”
When I think about it, of the five or six churches I’ve attended regularly over the last 24 years, I can only say that one was truly irrelevant to me. That church slowly became less and less relevant to me as it moved further and further from the purpose of the Church. When members of a church lose focus on being the Church–the hands and feet of God–and focuses instead on itself, it’s no longer relevant to me.
The church I left had become so consumed by internal power struggles by individual members and committees that nothing was getting done. Everyone was in it for himself and his own interests. When I finally realized that that church was no longer concerned with outreach, but was focused on internal control I lost all interest. At every turn there were hurdles that had to be jumped. When someone in the church, or outside the church, came and asked for help, it had to be approved by a half dozen people before it could be approved. If the youth wanted to have a car wash to raise money for a mission trip they couldn’t because someone at some point didn’t approve. People didn’t want to volunteer to help for things at the church or to serve people outside the church.
That church became irrelevant to me the day that the people attending the church became more important than the people of that church being the Church. It doesn’t have to be a small Baptist church or a massive non-denominational church or any church in between to become irrelevant. Any church of any size can become self-centered and lose focus of its purpose.
Related post: “Is there anything your church should cease immediately?”