Anyone having a modicum of experience with the church has also had less than inspiring moments with it. I’m talking about disappointment, misunderstanding, hurt, gossip, and hypocrisy to name a few. Of course, this all goes without mentioning generous doses of sheer bone-crushing boredom.
Not every congregation manifests all of these at the same time or intensity. Still, it’s enough to make one wish for a solitary version of Christianity that doesn’t require all the troublesome parts and processes. And of course, the people who cause them.
Some modern Christian idealists long for a paradise where spirituality can be grown in a silo and self can be Lord. It reminds me of one author who wrote that the most important things of God he ever learned was while driving cross country in a Volkswagen van. That idea is especially appealing to folks in prickly congregations, who long for the romance of the open road. Finally free of the mundane church, commitment no longer resembles an attachment to Joe, Jimmy, Lou, and Doug—guys who probably relied on you to help lead studies, hand out gospel tracts, and give rides to new folks. In fact, service and ministry will seem less self-sacrificial, and more tethered to adventure. Because the band of brothers and sisters is for the most part now in your rear-view, even the life lessons necessary for your growth can be things you selectively pick out rather than those you must accept.
But what kind of Jesus will you learn about?
Only one that fits in a van.
The fact is, the best place to learn Christ is still in His church. That’s not bad news. “The footsteps of the flock” (Song 1:8, NKJV) where His people tread, lead to pastures, not beaches. Stick with the saints, because the Christ you’ll find with them won’t fit in the van, anyway:
Eph. 1:16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
