from the blog archive at christianpioneer.com
Why church is boring
The reason church is boring is the same reason school is boring, you have to sit while someone who is a relative stranger drones on about things that you don’t care about. If you add in an uncomfortable seat and critical social pressure, you have a recipe for an all around unpleasant experience. Maybe its just me, but staring at the back of peoples heads for an hour isn’t that mesmerizing.
Being lectured to is boring because we are not as interested in what is being said as opposed to wanting to hear an answer to a question such as, “Where is the bathroom”, “How can I get my wife to show kindness”, and “How can I get my kids to stop being selfish little savages”?
Since most churches are denominational franchises (like 7-11 or Burger King), you can walk into any one and get the guaranteed same experience. Pastors like lectures because after four years of having to listen to them in seminary, it is now their turn to lecture.
To insure that a franchise remains consistent to the brand, churches operate like a mechanical contrivance. Activities and events are scripted and programmed to prevent any deviation from what would be expected. As a consumer of the service provided by a church you obtain the assurance that you are a good person and/or you are going to heaven. In exchange for this assurance, you pay money and meet the minimum denominational requirements.
Church bores most people. Some because since they have purchased their assurance, they want to get on with activities in which they are interested. Others are bored because they want to actually live a Christian life. Pastors usually prefer those in the first group. The ones in the second group scare them because they seldom know anything about living for Christ other than those scripted activities defined by their denomination.
The lecture format is useful to pastors because it keeps people distant. People are not inclined to “look behind the curtain” if they are kept at a distance. The Bible says that the purpose of church leaders is to help us grow into the full image of Christ. While a pastor may have a seminary education and have been approved of by his denomination, it is difficult to think of a single pastor who has actually helped his flock grow into the full image of Christ. This deficiency becomes more and more apparent as you actually get to know your pastor.
Real Christianity (as opposed to church or mechanical Christianity) needs to be lived out through relationships (us with Christ and each other). Boredom should be an indicator that something is wrong with the way we are being Christian. Either we are so self-consumed that we fail to find things that amuse us in church or we have been directed into life-wasting “Christian” church activities that fail to help us grow into the full image of Christ.
The solution to the problem of churches, is not to abandon them but rather use them to seek out older and wiser Christians who clearly show the light and love of Christ in their lives. These are the people that we can seek out and ask to show us how to know Jesus as well as they do. It is important to escape the church machine and find the real “church” through the relationships we establish with other Christians.
The primary purpose of church is to help us mature into the selfless love of Christ-likeness. This is seldom understood, much less practiced.
