I talk to a lot of people that feel that the Church (both local and universal) is dysfunctional, hypocritical, and unnecessary to living a life of faithful discipleship ("I believe in Jesus, but I don't need the church," etc). And, by and large, on the first two counts, they are absolutely right. On the last count, however, they are dead wrong. Let me explain.
The church absolutely is dysfunctional. There isn't a single church anywhere in the world that is not dysfunctional in some way or another. The truth is, though, that there isn't a single organization...of any type...anywhere in the world that isn't dysfunctional. Every organization is made up of people. Every person is imperfect and dysfunctional in some way. So it follows that organizations, made up of people, are also imperfect and dysfunctional in some way.
The church is also absolutely hypocritical. Again, every person is hypocritical in some way. We all say some things and do the opposite. It's part of human nature. Churches, then, are the same...except on a magnified level, because the world is always watching and observing.
The last point, though, is flat out wrong. One cannot be a faithful disciple of Jesus and ignore God's church. So, the question becomes: why must I go to church in order to be a Christian? Well, this depends on how we define a "Christian". If it's simply someone who acknowledges Jesus as the Messiah, then church is unnecessary. But the Bible defines a Christian as someone who is in a relationship with God; someone who gives themselves over to the lordship of Jesus in his/her life. And being in relationship with God means we trust and follow his Word (the Bible). And what does the Bible say about church? Hebrews 10:25:
"Let us not give up
meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us
encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day
approaching."
In fact, the Bible talks about gathering with other Christians a lot. It makes it clear that this is important. God's expectation that we live in community with one another even reflects his own triune nature: God himself exists in community.
So what do we do with the first two issues? If God expects us to be part of the church, then how do we deal with the fact that all churches are, in some way, dysfunctional, broken, and hypocritical? Well, again, all organizations are dysfunctional and hypocritical. The important thing is to be part of a church that is willing to admit and own its dysfunction and to adapt and address it.
Here's the reality: I've been in ministry for 15 years, having served as a denominational leader and a pastor, and even I get frustrated with the church. For the last few years I've been part of the healthiest church I've experienced, and even there, I've lately been frustrated by some of the dysfunctions I've run into. There is a major hang-up on image (and I've even heard it justified as "strategy" to reach certain people); there is an insider mentality among the leadership that is very cliquish and excludes people not based on abilities or competence, but on how well they fit with the clique; and (perhaps most frustratingly, for me), there is so much focus on drawing in new people (non-Christians) and growing the church that it happens at the expense of growing individuals into deeper relationship with Jesus, even to the extent that people are sometimes actively prevented from going as deep as they want to. There is a mentality that individual growth should be left up to the individual person to cultivate and pursue. That's great in theory; every person should own his/her own spiritual growth. But in reality, people just don't do it without direction and assistance. So we end up with a church that is big and dynamic but without a lot of depth.
The only other thing that frustrates me as much is when church go to the opposite extreme (which is even more prevalent) and focus solely on growing more knowledgeable Christians, at the expense of reaching anyone that hasn't already been a Christian for 30 years.
Still, even in our moments of greatest frustration, we realize that the church, even with its dysfunctions and brokenness, is part of God's plan for us. Dysfunctional churches reflect the dysfunctional people that comprise it; and being in community and relationship with dysfunctional and broken people is good for us...because we, too, are dysfunctional and broken. The reason community matters...the reason the church matters...is because it teaches us how to be broken and dysfunctional together, and how only our perfect God is the answer to our brokenness. The church trains us how to love the unlovely, how to love those that are broken and dysfunctional...just as God loves us, with all of our brokenness and dysfunction. And that's good news!
