A Fatal Flaw of the Traditional Church

Seeing how about 90-95% of my readers are currently in a traditional church setting, I´m betting the title does one of two things: it either makes you uncomfortable, or you´re already deciding to ignore this blog as a rave against the traditional church. Let me assure you, I love the traditional church and I plan on attending my home church once I return to the States. In fact, last night I hardly slept at all thinking about this blog and how I could write it lovingly. I really feel led to write this and even asked the counsel of one of my team members about doing it.
Last night, my mind began racing with thoughts about my home church as I tried to go to sleep. Recently, as most of you know by now (I´d be surprised if you hadn´t heard... but that´s another blog), the senior pastor of my home church has decided to follow God´s direction for his life and that direction is leading him away from my church. It really got me thinking about the traditional church culture as a whole. I was reminiscing about the past when our former senior pastor left and ¨coincidentally¨ a surprising amount of members left as well. I wonder if that will happen this time too. Of course, those people will use a plethora of different excuses as to why their leaving coincides with the pastor leaving, but the truth is, everyone knows. ¨For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.¨ 2 Timothy 4:3-4 ESV Wow, that sounds remarkably familiar... Research shows that about 15% of the church members leave whenever an able pastor leaves that church (Weese & Crabtree, Elephant in the Boardroom).
This research alarms me because it points to a fatal flaw of the traditional church. I recently read something that struck me profoundly as true, ¨Members of the traditional church often mistake a leader´s charismatic personality for His Spirit.¨ So, when that charismatic pastor leaves, people feel free to leave as well. The flaw is that the vast majority of Christians in the traditional setting attend ¨their¨ church for one reason or another that has nothing Biblical about it... For example, ¨I go to so-and-so Church because I like the pastor (or the music, or the people, etc).¨ Fill in the blank with whatever the fad is at this current moment. It´s the ¨I/Me¨ focus that pains me; the point of church has become to please the attendee (i.e. hip music, impressive buildings, fancy stages and the ¨performances¨ of the worship leaders) and we have lost the point that church is to worship and praise our Creator. It doesn´t matter how we ¨feel¨ about it, but American culture has permeated and warped the meaning of the church from Him to ¨me.¨
So the point of this blog is to issue a challenge to all of my readers to examine, critically, the reason one attends your church. Please ask yourselves these questions, ¨Why do I go to ______ Church?¨¨Is it because I like the pastor, or the music pleases me, or the fancy stage presence?¨¨Or do I go because I can honestly feel a connection to the almighty presence of God while I´m there?¨ I earnestly pray that you can take the time to look deep inside yourself and, most importantly, ask God to show you the reasons you attend.
One disclaimer before I end this blog: this blog is not advocating that if you are unhappy with your church, you are free to ¨shop¨ other churches for one that fits you. Yet again, the focus of that kind of thought process is back to ¨me.¨ This blog is only asking that you find the right reasons for attending your church.