Christians judge me.

I was talking with a friend the other day who has made a lifestyle choice that is not consistent with Christian teaching (sorry to be a little vague here but I’m hiding the identity of the person concerned).

I was talking to them about church and wondering if they were going anyway at present. Their response was that they weren’t because they just couldn’t go through all that comment and judgement that church people do.

Now I might have defended the church at this point  – perhaps pointing out that the lifestyle they have chosen is in fact not what Jesus taught – but I think she was right.

I know that the bible teaches that this person has made a wrong choice. She knows this too. But she has made the choice to live as she does and she must be free to make that choice.

The problem now is that she feels excluded from the church – the very place she should be able to go to to help her make the right choices.

How does the church usually help people make choices? At best they will be patronising and whisper behind her back and at worst they will publically humiliate her.

What did Jesus do with sinners? Did he hold them up for public scorn? Did he whisper about them behind their back? Did he say “get away from me you are unclean!”? Of course not – he went and had a meal with them and called them his friends.

If the church was only for perfect people it would be empty and yet too often those who go see it as an exclusive club where some sins are ok (we just don’t mention those) and some sins are not allowed in here.

I’m not advocating a free for all where sin doesn’t matter – in truth I’m am very keen on personal holiness – but how do we get holy if the place we can meet with God and fellowship with others is barred to us because of a wrong choice we have made.

Sorry – I’m starting to rant.

Let’s get more serious about rejecting the sin but loving the sinner (with the emphasis on loving the sinner e.g. me – and you).

Perhaps if we put all the energy we expend on telling everyone how bad they are into telling people how much God loves them we might have full churches and I would be out of a ministry (good thing by they way).

Are you a Christian who has no church?

Then this blog is just for you.

I’m an ordained Christian minister without a church to call my home. I know it sounds crazy and un-Christian but I’m so fed up with the way churches are in my area that I refuse to attend any of them. I would like to go to a particular denomination but I live in a country area and there are not any of that denomination near enough to make it reasonable to go. I’ve always felt that if you are going to attend a church it should be more than just the occasional visit on a Sunday but that seems to be all that is open to me.

Shouldn’t a minister put up with anything? Perhaps you would be right in asking that. I’m not perfect and do make mistakes but surely going to church shouldn’t just leave you feeling angry? Is it really church if you feel closer to God when you are out of it than when you are in it?

Statistically I’m not alone. People have been leaving the church for years because they have just got fed up with the nonsense they experience when they are part of a church. It’s not that they give up on God but just that someone the church has let them down.

I’ve spent many a day with people who have been hurt by insensitive Christians in the past. I’ve talked with people who found church so boring that I just couldn’t take it any more.

I don’t myself believe that church should be the most entertaining of places to be. Reading a book is just not as exciting as watching a film but it doesn’t mean the book is boring – the experience is just different (don’t get fixated on my analogy I know some will think a book is more exciting than a film). The point is that the church is not just not exciting its often downright boring! When I read of how thousands came to hear Jesus speak and how society is reaching out for all things spiritual I have to ask why is it that most churches are empty?

You may be someone who finds church boring, or someone who has been hurt by Christians, or you may have other reasons why you don’t go to church.

I hope that you will feel able to bookmark this blog and perhaps start to participate it in.

I don’t want it to degenerate in to a rant at the church – there are plenty of other blogs doing that. This is not the place for Atheists to get off on bashing Christians – I will remove comments that are like that so don’t bother. I want this to be a place where Christians who have no church can receive some Christian ministry.

Thanks for reading.

Chris