Most Christians do not know why the church exists.
Yes, that’s a big, bold statement, and it’s also my opinion, but I am very confident in saying that.
Think about it. How many kids go to school and don’t know the purpose of education?
(How many teachers and school administrators in the US know the purpose of school?!)
If almost 50% of all marriages end in divorce, how many spouses obviously don’t know understand the purpose of marriage?
How many children don’t know the purpose of family?
Sadly, too many.
So I believe that I can confidently say that in like manner, most of us Christians do not know why the church exists.
I just finished writing a 7-part series of posts on church membership, but a bigger question lingers in my mind.
What is the purpose of the church?
It’s not a new question either.
Of course, I have known for years what the purpose of the church is. I grew up in a great church, and I went to Bible college. By now, the purpose of the church is a foregone conclusion in my mind.
Just like everything else. I already know everything the Bible teaches.
Ha! Hopefully you sensed the sarcasm.
I thought I knew the purpose of the church, but then I encountered churches that were different than mine. Churches that supposedly were like mine, but they do things that we don’t do, and they don’t do things that we do.
Churches can do things differently even if they believe the same things, but sometimes they also do different things because they have different beliefs about why they exist.
What you believe determines how you act.
The growing number of people leaving their local churches is proof enough that many people do not see the point of church.
In the book Already Gone, Ken Ham says, “When we asked the entire 1,000 young adults [who left the church] whether or not they believe the Church is relevant, only 47 percent said yes, and a full 53 percent said no/don’t know” (Already Gone, p. 119).
How many of us who have not left our churches are merely acting out a lifelong tradition every Sunday, unable to explain or defend the purpose of the church if questioned?
It’s time for that to change.
I am officially questioning you and inviting you to question me on the purpose of the church.
Lest you think I’m going down some slippery slope, remember that when Jesus came to the earth, he questioned everyone and everything, especially the religious people and institutions of the day.
Why did he do it? Because they had strayed from their purpose, and Jesus was lovingly pointing them back.
God expected Hebrew children to ask their parents questions about their laws and traditions (Exodus 12:26-27; Deuteronomy 6:20-21).
It is not bad to ask questions. But it is bad not to have answers.
It’s time for us to make sure we haven’t strayed from our purpose, and, if we have, it’s time for us to rediscover our purpose and return to it.
Are you going to join me? Do you think we have strayed from the true purpose of the church?
3 Comments
This is a very good question and I would like to see your answer. I admit that I have not formulated an answer in my mind to this question but I think in part it is to exhorting/encouraging one another as stated in Hebrews 10:25. I appreciate your openness to address some potentially controversial topics in a reasonable and Biblical way.
This is a very good and appears to be a timely question in my opinion. The passage in Hebrews “Forsake not the assembling yourselves together…” was what motivated me to consider meeting again with a group of Christian’s in a local church after a time of just meeting together with my family. It all comes down to the Word of God and the instructions there. I have not been a big fan of popular books such as Purpose driven church because it seemed to me to be more about the work of men and not the work of God. In my humble opinion, the local church in many respects appears to be the church of men and not the church of God. Men are in control and they do what they want regardless of Biblical instruction to the contrary. The recent examples of the Catholic Church and the SBC church failures/scandals and the Methodist Church split are examples of ungodliness run rampant with support of church leadership. The SBC executive committee failed in a terribly ungodly way in dealing with the problems and in my opinion should have all been removed from their positions. It seemed they listened to the lawyers more than to biblical instructions.
I totally agree with this sentiment, “In my humble opinion, the local church in many respects appears to be the church of men and not the church of God. Men are in control and they do what they want regardless of Biblical instruction to the contrary.”
This doesn’t mean we should abandon the church, of course, and I am glad to hear that Hebrews 10:25 prompted you to meet again with believers.
But since the beginning of time, we have seen the devil and mankind distort good, beautiful things. Unfortunately, many churches have allowed unbiblical influences to impact the way they function, and this transformation has effectively hindered the purpose and work of the church.