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Why I Love My Disappointing Church

There are simply no churches, if you peel away the gloss and the Sunday morning smiles, that are not populated by imperfect and inconsistent people. We do not confess our sins to each other because we have so few, but because we have so many.

Churches become disappointed in pastors. And pastors keep getting disappointed in churches.

The steady prattle of small talk about churches changing pastors or pastors upgrading to better churches permeates our ministers’ meetings and our conventions. 

It follows a pattern. 

Everything is going to be great.

Everything is great.

All in all it’s great. 

OK, it’s not great, but it’s acceptable. 

It’s less than acceptable.

This is not where God wants me. (In evangelicalese that means, “I’m getting outta here.”)

And then, wow, this new church (job) is going to be really great.

The somewhat tentative involvement of vast numbers of church attenders follows a similar pattern. 

The whole thing is like a watching people on roller coasters, where some are optimistically climbing to the heights of finding the greatest church ever, while others are plunging into chaos of disappointment, disillusionment and withdrawal. Many decide to get off and never get back on. Others go find another roller coaster to get on, and start climbing upward in idealized expectations once again.

There is a sad irony in realizing the very thing we all want in a church is the very thing we ourselves lack: consistency.

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tomlawson@churchleaders.com'
Tom has taught in Christian higher education for 25 years, with a focus on the theology and history of Christian worship. Tom, along with his wife Linda, serves on the faculty of Ozark Christian College (Joplin, Missouri, US). Tom grew up among the Primitive Baptists of the Appalachian mountains. Through his adult life, he has served in churches and taught at schools associated with the Christian Churches (of the Stone-Campbell Movement).