I always like to read church signs because it is a way of gauging where a church might be on some issues. Some churches post the same tried and true messages while others might be a little bit more daring in their messages. I have always viewed the church sign as a way to communicate with the community and possibly challenge someone's thinking. Based on the positive and negative feedback received we did succeed at challenging people to think about the message.
Today, I saw a sign that tells me that a church and or pastor is honest about where they are as a body. The sign said, "If you are looking for a perfect church keep driving!" This church is being honest about not being perfect, how refreshing. While pastors are generally honest about their church not being perfect, I am not sure that others really believe that there is not a perfect church out there, somewhere, just waiting to be discovered. The reason for this belief is that people seem to be going from church to church, never settling down, rarely making a committment to the pastor or the church, always looking for the newest, latest, greatest church in town. Today's Christian seem to be like the ones that Jesus was speaking about when He referred to the ministry of John the Baptist, "John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light." (John 5:35 NIV) For a time John drew large crowds but when the message confronted the hearers in their own sin then his popularity began to wane. Like a great preacher John always pointed towards Jesus, even at the cost of his popularity.
When expectations are not met, roaming Christians move on to the next fad in the Christian community, leaving behind a bewildered pastor wondering what happened. Often times the newness and excitement of a ministry wears off, the light is not shining as brightly, the honeymoon is over, and it is time to find a new ministry where we can achieve another spiritual high. There are millions of reasons why people move from place to place but unless there is heresy, the Word is not being preached, immorality in the church or God says you are done and you are sent out, there are very few legitimate reasons to leave a local body. (The one exception would be if the environment of a church is toxic and your spiritual well being is at risk then run, telling the pastor why.) One of the flimsiest excuses for a church member is the tried and true, I am not being fed. I once heard a young man say that about our pastor and I told him that if he wanted to be fed he needed to pull a chair up to the table and eat because it was being served. I could go on and on with the excuses for leaving a ministry because I have heard so many over the years but you get the idea.
Because so many are moving from church to church we are fooled into believing that we are growing the church when in reality we are just swapping members. Until we are honest with each other about the imperfections of the church nothing will change. Until the roaming stops it is difficult to develop mature believers leaving the church weak and ineffective. Let us be in honest is stating that there is no perfect church just imperfect people trying to serve a perfect God.
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