The church in America is broken

For the last 34 years, I’ve been in church every time the doors were open — heck, for the last several years I was the one opening the doors. I’m not in any way bashing the church or the leaders who work so hard. I say this not because I hate the church, but because I love it: The church in America is broken.

As followers of Jesus, we are supposed to be growing into people who are just like him (2 Corinthians 3:18, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:13, etc.) and who, as a result, do the same things he did (John 14:12).

Other followers of Jesus are supposed to be helping us do that (Matthew 28:18-20), and Jesus appointed roles in the church (apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors/teachers) to be specifically responsible for it (Ephesians 4:11-16).

After 2,000 years, though, and despite almost 400,000 churches in America today, how many of us (myself very much included) would be described as “just like Jesus”? More broadly, how many of us know even one person who would be described as “just like Jesus”?

The church’s primary function is to produce people who are just like Jesus, but we’re not. At all. Something is wrong, and it’s literally a life-and-death issue. If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’re going to keep getting what we’re getting. Something has to change.

I don’t know what the answer is, and I’m certainly under no illusion that I have any special knowledge or skills that make me the guy to figure it out. All I know is that I can’t be satisfied with the status quo anymore. There’s literally nothing more important than fixing this.

Photo by Dave Babler.