#pavlovitz

1) Your Sunday productions have worn thin

You may be right to a certain extent here. We can be a little over dramatic and showy when it comes to worship. Ironically, this is because we are actually trying to be relevant and fresh.

Part of the reason that flashy worship services don't make a difference on Tuesday afternoon or Thursday evening is not because they're useless or ineffective, but because they lack substance.

Also, for what it's worth, even substantive worship services can't carry most believers through the week. That's why we offer Wednesday services and weekly bible studies and we encourage you to read your Bible and pray every day. If you're having a hard time on Tuesday afternoons or Thursday evenings you should try some of these mid-week and daily options.

A lot of churches aren doing a great job with both their worship service and substantive teaching, and not just on Sundays. You should look for one in your area.

A lot of people want more than just "Christian-themed performance" pieces. One of the places that you can find space and breath for these conversation and relationships that you seem to crave is outside of the worship service. Churches, once again, have this thing where we meet in small groups for bible study. We use different names for it, but there's no show, no lights and no fluff. It's all depth, love, and fellowship. You should try waking up earlier and going to Sunday School.

2) You speak a foreign tongue.

John, a lot of people complain about the language and terms we use. I don't know if you are aware of this, though, but a lot of the language that we use comes from the Bible. We believe that the Bible contains language and terms that God used to communicate with us. It's kind of designed to be timeless. We have a tendency to use these Bible terms to explain important stuff and concepts that God explained to in the Bible.

We've talked like this for about 2,000 years. Don't hold your breathe for too much of a change.

I realize that we have a tendency to speak in insider language from time to time and we should work harder to not be so esoteric with our language. We're working on it, but don't expect us to stop using words like eschatology and theology. Those words are really just smart people words for talking about the end of time and God. We're sorry if you don't like them, but they are very specific and scholarly terms and they've been around for a long long time. Once again, don't hold your breathe.

3) Your vision can't see past your building

While it is true that many churches are entirely too focused on church buildings and getting people to come to church - I don't think this is what is really turning people away. It might be preventing us from reaching new people, but I highly doubt that people who want to come to church are not avoiding us because we serve nice coffee and breakfast scones.

A LOT of us are going out into our communities and reaching people.

You should try coming to church, and then going out with us to reach our communities.

4) You choose lousy battles.

We know you like to complain about our fighting, John. That's obvious.

You can complain with the best of them. But I don't know that our battles are the same battles you are talking about and some of the battles that you mentioned are actually kind of important.

Fast food protests? When did the Church protest fast food? You're going to need to refresh my memory on that one.

Hobby Lobby. That one was actually important John because we believe in these things called the sanctity of life and religious freedom. We believe that Christians should be able to practice their religion in the public square. Last we checked it was in the Bill of Rights. So, do we object, as a whole, to being forced to pay for pills that can cause abortions up to 7 days after gestation? Yes, we do. You may think that was a lousy battle, but we don't.

Duck Dynasty? Last I checked the Church didn't fight over that, Duck Dynasty fans did. I'm pretty sure that a lot of Duck Dynasty fans also happen to attend church, so there was an overlap there - but I didn't see any conventions or assemblies of church leadership over the cancellation of Duck Dynasty. That's a bad example.

We see the same world you do John. One filled with poverty, racism, and lots of bad stuff. Believe it or not we are leading the charge to do something about it. Do some research. Christians are leading the fight against slavery, sex trafficking, poverty, racism, hungry - you name it. Granted not every single Christians is doing this, but overall we are leading the charge.

John, we need you to stop being trivial with your complaints and stop being so negative in the face of positive news.

5) Your love doesn't look like love.

You're right. Love is a big deal to us. We don't always do it right and we don't always do it well - but we are trying.

Also, by calling our love "incredibly selective and decidedly narrow" I'm assuming your complaining about homosexuals, right? Maybe not. Moving on.

John, while you may want us to welcome everybody, and we are working really hard to do just that, you need to understand that love does more than just let everybody in.

You see this Jesus, whose love you admire, He did hang out with sinners, prostitutes, and low-lifes. He did love them, very much. But, if you'll take the time to read a Bible you'll notice something that He did after hanging out with them. He then called those lowlifes and prostitutes to follow Him.

And he even told them to "go and sin no more."

You see Jesus loved people where they were, but He didn't leave them there. Love doesn't let a brother in Christ cuss, drink, and redefine love and marriage. Why? Because, we've chosen to follow Jesus and that means trying to be more like Him.

Just because Jesus loved lowlifes doesn't mean wanted them to stay lowlifes. He wanted them to become more like Him. He wanted them and us to follow Him. Part of following Him is denying our own personal desires and doing what He tells us to do. That too is love.

We ask people to change because Jesus asked us to change. Period. I'm not sure you understand this . . .

From what we know about Jesus and God, they are Love - with a capital L. We are trying to look like Him. Are you? __________________

We are a global community of followers, so we won't all get angry. I'm not.

You may not want me to critique your post line by line, but I did. Sorry.

There's really no need for me to "be still with your words." You're not writing Scripture here and there really is nothing new about them. We've been hearing stuff like this for the last 30 years or more and even more so in the last decade.

I understand that you've probably been hurt by people in a local church. We all have. The people in your local church are sinners. They have problems.

I/we don't want you to walk away. You don't have to. You do matter. You matter to Jesus. We have heard you, and others like you.

God has already shown you that He is real and myself and other Christians are trying to live up to that reality.

John, you're more than welcome to stay - but unless you're willing to address some of the cynicism and bitterness in your heart, educate yourself about what is happening in the Church, and choose to follow Jesus - you probably won't stay.