Over the past few months I have been noticing more and more articles and blog posts by people talking about why they have left the ‘traditional church’ or left church altogether. Last night my intention was to post my thoughts as to why these people have ‘quit’ church because I think there are some huge issues with their claims. Last night as I worked on the intended post I found myself going in numerous directions because there are vastly different reasons people have given up on the church. I also found that the more I worked on the post the more negative I seemed to feel and write. So tonight I’m going to travel down a slightly different road and see where I end up.
Today I want to focus on the type of people that are staying in the church and why they do so. By that I mean people who have just as much reason to leave as those who actually leave but have purposefully chosen to stay. This is not going to be a description of all the people that are in the church but of the more particular group of people who chose to stay instead of go. I think that by simply describing a few of the qualities I see in these types of people I will in a way be challenging many of the reasons other people leave.
The first thing I notice about the people that choose to stay is that they have a tremendous depth of love for people, even the ones that challenge that love to the extreme. They are well aware that the church is filled with imperfect people and know that they have just as much an opportunity to ‘be salt and light’ in the church as they do in the world. Because they love people they take advantage of the opportunity to positively influence their church community. This love gives them the added ability to co-exist with those intolerable church folk who cause intolerant or less tolerant people to leave. They practice rather than preach tolerance and this is visible in their choosing to stay. By staying they can shape the church community they have united with via their love for the diverse members of that body. In turn, their influence is multiplied out through the lives of those changed which would never have occurred if they had simply left.
The second thing I notice is that they have a servants heart. The love that they have for God’s children moves them into action as they find opportunities to serve the body of Christ. Church isn’t a place they attend but is a place they serve. Not only are they found serving the people within the church but they are also the ones looking for ways to connect the church with the surrounding community. They serve as the eyes and ears of the church as they motivate others to look beyond the walls of the building and serve as a vital hub in the community. They can’t sit back and talk about how the church is disconnected from the real life issues of this world because they themselves are making those connections happen.
The third and most important characteristic I see in the people who stayed is an unswerving hope.
"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."—Hebrews 10:23-25
I think hope provides an excellent set of lenses through which we see the church and in many ways it is hope that fuels the first two characteristics I discussed. When you lose hope it becomes increasingly difficult to serve? When you are no longer serving it becomes increasingly difficult to love. And when you find it hard to love the people of the church community it becomes increasingly difficult to attend. Many of the articles and blogs I’ve read by those who left are completely void of hope for the church. However, those who have held unswervingly to the hope they profess have simultaneously not given up meeting together. By staying they are able to spur on and encourage others while also being spurred on and encouraged themselves.
"Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."—Colossians 1:24-27
The hope of the church is found in Christ and it is only in Christ that the church can participate in his redeeming of the world to himself. You can’t be a servant at arms length and those that chose to stay have recognized God’s commission on their lives to be servants to His church even when they may have preferred to leave. It’s impossible to be a servant and be on the outside looking in. The only way to be a servant TO the church is to be a servant IN the church.
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