By: Mike Kelly
Retired Pastor
I don’t want to go to a boring church, and I suspect I am not alone. I googled “boring church” and got into some interesting Reddit conversations like “Churches are overrated glorified social clubs filled with back biting hypocrites.
Church and religion SUCKS!!!” That’s pretty direct and maybe not as far off the mark as we churchgoers would like.
Maybe Believers could get a little better at showing Christ’s love and not allowing the Evil One to invade our minds and actions.
Church doesn’t need to be a major production every Sunday, but maybe if we were a little more genuine with each other, a little more Christ-like with one another, outsiders wouldn’t be so nearly right when they criticize us for not being what we say we are.
And then we have the wool-gatherers and daydreamers. “For a lot of people, going to church is not much more than a time to mumble through the music and space through the sermon—while most of their mental energy is given to thinking about their own anxieties and ambitions.
A church gathering can become a time to daydream, and that turns church into something boring.” I confess to being guilty of this sometimes when the stresses of daily life get a little too stressful or my sleep last night was compromised.
Or, if I’m being totally transparent, if the sermon is not connecting with where I am that day. Or if the preacher is monotone and uninspirational.
I’ve sat through too many sermons where it felt like the preacher was just putting in his time, fulfilling an obligation rather than sharing the Word of the Almighty God. A preacher doesn’t have to shout and scream, but he or she ought to have an evident passion for God and His Word.
People are looking for the truth. They want to have meaningful lives. And they are willing to pay for what they see as important.
If we bore them to death at church, they will not really care about finding the One behind us. If we aren’t passionate about Christ, why would we think they would consider the search worth their time?
My experience tells me that people will pay dearly for something that is important and that they feel challenges them. Matthew 16:24-27 reads, “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.’” That sort of gives the impression that not only is what we are doing important, but that it will be a real challenge.
And we have Ephesians 6:10-12: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
That sounds like a call to arms. There’s nothing casual and uninspiring about being at war. It demands your full attention.
Maybe it is not the church so much that is boring as it is us and our attitude about things. Instead of looking for things to criticize, what if we came Sunday asking for our marching orders?
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Mike Kelly is the founding pastor of Bryan’s Grace Community Church (retired) and Board Chairman of Bryan’s Sanctuary Homeless Shelter and Williams County’s Compassion (free) Medical Clinic.