Jesus’s Broken Church: Reimagining Our Sunday Traditions from a New Testament Perspective (ebook)

“Why do you so hate the church?”

Shocked, I furrow my eyebrows and scowl at my friend. “I don’t hate church.”

“But you’re always criticizing it in your blog.”

This gives me pause. True, much of my writing about the church doesn’t celebrate what she does well but rebukes her for what she does poorly or doesn’t do at all.

“I don’t hate the church,” I say again, as if trying to convince myself. “I love the church, really I do. I write to challenge her to do better because I know she can.”

My friend nods, but I’m not sure I convince her.

In truth, I’m zealous about church.

Over the centuries the church has done much to advance the cause of Jesus, help people find their way to eternal life, and perform acts of generosity that point an unbelieving world to Jesus. Today’s church continues to do that. And I hope church has done that for you.

But lest we feel smug about the church’s achievements, today’s church does only a small fraction of what she could be doing, of what she should be doing. I’m sad to say that the church has lost her way. She’s off track and has missed the mark for much of her existence. This pains me as much as a spike driven into my heart, into my very soul, the core of my being. I mourn what the church is because she’s falling far short of her potential, of her calling.

It’s like being a parent of a brilliant, gifted child who muddles her way through school and gets Cs, even though she could be earning As in advanced classes. As a loving parent, we’d do whatever we could to shake the apathetic inertia out of our child and get her to live up to her potential. But since she won’t, we prod her to do better.

Just as we would do this for our children, I do this for my church with the same imperative passion. I metaphorically shake her in hopes that she’ll do better—because she can. I do this through the words I write. It’s the best way I know to help.

At this point, some of you may be saying “Amen, preach it!” but others—most of you, I suspect—may have felt your hackles rise at my insulting, impertinent words.

You’re angry and thinking about slamming this book shut. You might be yelling at me right now. That’s okay. I get it. But before you bail on me, I challenge you to stick with me a little bit longer.

Give me a chance to explain...