Church Folk

I was reading a friend's blog and the honesty of what he was saying really hit me. What about church? Why do we go? I have been through two vicious church splits personally and I was able to encourage a pastor friend of mine about a year ago because of my experiences. I am always struck by the capacity of the head deacon or assistant pastor or song leader, any leader in the church really, to turn into a servant of the devil. I know, everyone sins, but these men are supposed to be spiritual leaders in both the church and the community and I'm not talking about forgetting to thank God for the food or not giving to the Lord. I'm talking about keeping notes to use against the pastor at a later time while openly supporting him in business meetings, I'm talking about trying to desperately show why a pastor is unfit to preach by wildly attacking his family. Backstabbing, lying, hateful things. And the vast majority of the people who have supported the pastor for years and years just sit there and watch him take it, or worse jump in with harsh words that they'd been storing up and suddenly found an opportunity to use.

Why meet weekly with hypocrites who really desire nothing more than to have power and found that a church setting is one of the easiest venues in which to achieve some level of noteriety? After all, show up to church, keep your real feelings secret, quote some scripture and wallah, you're a trustee in charge of all the funds God gives the church for it's various needs. Nice powerful position.

Well, I've asked myself these questions. But I keep coming back to the same answer and thus to church.

"Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is."

There it is, in the Bible right in front of my face. Not a suggestion, not a maybe, that's what it says. Also, I find it hard to give my offering if I'm not at church. Sure, I could always mail it to a ministry I used to attend or one I am familiar with, but that still doesn't get me around the scripture.

There are genuine christians at church, good people who love the Lord and live their lives by the Bible. I try not to view things by my past experiences. My pastors were always a good example to me in that when they were treated wrongly by the people they commited their lives to minster to, they just saw it as God's way of moving them along in another direction. I know they were hurt, their families were hurt, but they saw God's will in it all.

So there it is. Am I reserved around "church folk"? Yes, I am more cautious than I was growing up in church. I try to take people as they are. Are they christians because they say so and go to church every Sunday and Wednesday? No, they're not. You can tell by what people say and do, if you are around them long enough, whether they are truly christians. (Sometimes it doesn't take very long) Does that mean my negative experiences should keep me from fellowshipping and keeping Gods commandments? No, all experiences are learning experiences, I just have to use what God has taught me for his glory and continue to follow His leading.


PS-Chuck, you have no blog. When will you begin your own blog? You need a blog Chuck, a blog I say!