Warning: Reader Discretion Advised!!!!!

Have you ever wondered why the Church is usually one of the most dysfunctional organizations we attach ourselves to? If you attend church, do not be offended by that question. You have wondered the same thing. The reality is that most people who go to a traditionally base church secretly ask themselves this question. It is like the dirty little secret we all have. Well it is time we deal with it. I love the Church, in fact I have given my life to it's prosperity and it's mission. So, no greater place to see the dysfunction then from a day in and day out vantage point. Dirty secret or not, we need to address this matter. There are many ways we can answer this secret question, but before we do we need to know the base line for the Church's operation. I want to introduce the Bible as evidence in the case. In the Bible is a book called "Acts." This historical account is strategically place in this collection of books to follow the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. The book of Acts, provided us with the evidence that the Church was NOT always dysfunctional. Actually, the historical record of Acts details the Church that had order, understanding, respect, and most of all function. This is a huge contrast to our churches today. So, what do we see in our churches today that would cause dysfunction? We are always looking at what the early church did and had as their operation. Lets be honest and turn the tables. What do we as the modern Church bring to the table? 1. Low expectations - The modern church is the only group/ organization that DOES NOT expect its subscribing members to do what it requires for membership. This is ridiculous. We understand expectations. We have to be at work on time. We show up at school with homework in hand. We pay our bills because we know if we do not we will not enjoy all the luxuries of life. We know if we miss a practice we are not going to play in the game, so we put everything aside to get to practice. After all those are the expectations and we gladly accept them. Ironically or maybe, sadly, we refuse and reject those same expectations in the church, yet we tell everyone we are a member. We do not attend, we do not contribute to the mission, and still a sense of membership seems to be the entitlement. Even more, leadership is not secure enough to enforce those expectations (now watch this) that the individual publicly agreed upon. This insecurity comes from the worry that those who made these public agreements will leave. Read that again. (We will address that later) No wonder churches are dysfunctional, if that is the operational logic, the church becomes the most illogical organization on the face of the earth. Here is logic. If you do not show up for work, they fire you. If you show up late for school enough they suspend you. If you do not pay your bills, they will drive to your house and take whatever you are paying on and do not give you a refund. If you do not go to practices, you stop being a member of that team. That my friend is common sense and we accept it. Here is another truth, most pastors know if they implement these same principles in the Church, people will get bent out of shape or run him off. And all that exposes is the level of dysfunction that church has. And the whole time the community is watching in sad wonder. Wondering why the people who say they believe in the same thing can not get their act together. We write out a list of expectations but never expect anyone to honor them. 2. Rejection of divine order - Say what you may, God is in order and everything He does comes under this order. God is not a dysfunctional Being, randomly doing things or in conflict with Himself. God established order and EXPECTS order. Especially, in the one group that is set to be His earthly ambassadors! Most established churches in the modern age have no concept of divine order. Hence, we have deacon run churches, "churches" with hundreds of individual "members" who all believe they run the church. Churches who rebel against the very ones they call to lead them and instruct them. Again, logic and function take a back seat. It seems that the church is the one place we can take all our frustrations and all our authority issues and flesh them out. Like, "this is the one place in my life I can exhibit power and openly rebel against the establishment!" If we go back to the presented evidence, we will see a people who were excited about what God was doing, because they were functioning under divine order. God blessed because He was being represented correctly. This again is something we accept in our everyday life. We go to work and do our job under the supervision of our boss. We go to school and live under the established order of teachers and principles. We submit our bills to the authority of the holding company. We run ourselves to death because the coach told us to. Yet, and this is truth, we DO NOT accept it in the Church. We say we have surrendered and yet we fight like cats and dogs against divine order. Logic?? 3. Lack of trust - A lot of what we have discussed comes down to this. We do not trust each other; we do not trust leadership. We bring all of our mistrust and dump it in the Church. I would say to that, keep it! Take it to work and tell your boss you don't trust him. Stand up in class and announce that you believe your teacher is a fake. Call your lender and tell them you don't believe they will do anything if you do not pay. Tell your coach next time he tells you to run around the field, that you don't believe that is the best idea. Just a thought. Let me say this, you can be hurt, damaged, and beaten up and still trust those who love you and care for you. Trust is a disciple not an emotion. God is not asking you to feel like you should trust Church member or Church leaders; He is commanding us to trust one another. We do not give our tithe, time and talents because we do not trust. Again, the irony is huge. We trust our boss (whether it is honest or not), we trust our teacher, we trust our banker, we trust our coaches, and yet once again, we with hold this same trust from the group of people that care for us and watch out for us. The most trust worthy people on the face of the earth are those who have the Spirit of God living within them and we trust them the least. We always say, "If you will just trust God," I say that trusting God means trusting God's people too, after all this is the group you keep telling everyone you are a member of! We demonstrate our trust in God by how we trust those who are filled with the very Spirit of God. If we love them we will trust them and I will let that point explain itself. You see, this is an honest survey of what the modern church brings to the table. As we look at the table and all that it contains, the dysfunction ceases to be a myth or a secret and becomes a reality that is staring us in the face. Here is another honest question, would we even be at the same table as the model church in Acts? Now that seem really rash, but we hold the key to the chains of dysfunction. We simple need to implement what we know to be true. Nothing I have said here is a great shock. If you are in the Church, you secretly know it happens. If you are outside the Church you openly watch and wait for someone to get it right so you could be reached. The Church is the greatest thing on the face of the earth. Jesus paid for her with His blood. Common sense is just that, common. It is something that everyone know to be true and a method that is just easy to comprehend. Common sense needs its right place in the established church again.