Church Shopping

People are very demanding about what they want from church, but not always what's good for them. I received an email last week from a lady who was church shopping in the area and said, "I enjoy Praise Worship services and am trying to find a church family that is affirming, friendly and all inclusive."

There's nothing wrong with different styles of worship services, but as I tell people at Wyandotte, the worship is the part that's NOT primarily for you (the audience should be God alone). Thus the popular appeal of the worship is not nearly as important as the intent and content.

I'm also nervous about the use of the phrase "affirming, friendly, and all inclusive." If that means that we embrace a diversity of people, then that's great! But if it means we embrace a diversity of moral behavior… well that's just not going to happen.

Our church has several young families – probably at a higher ratio than most churches – but it also includes single adults, couples without children, the elderly and middle aged, etc. etc. We have both poor and wealthy, professional and working class, Republican and Democrat. We don't have a lot of ethnic diversity but we accurately reflect the area in which we live.

But when it comes to moral behavior and God's Word… we step on toes. In fact, in my response to the lady's request above, I told her it's my job to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. I will take a stand for what's right in what we teach and preach; I'm not going to soft-sell the Gospel just to avoid offending people.

I know it doesn't seem like good salesmanship (to make people uncomfortable and ill-at-ease) but I'm selling a peace treaty to the already defeated, an acquittal to the already condemned. Mincing words doesn't serve anybody well.