“I’m losing faith in the Church and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know who to trust.”

This was the beginning of a conversation I recently had with yet another follower of Jesus. These sentiments seem to be washing up in daily conversation now. Men and women are tumbling out of the undertow of church culture, disillusioned by their personal experience. There seems to be a pervasive unsettledness in church; it’s more than disenchantment. The church seems to be off its foundation – literally UNSETTLED. So how do we move forward through this season of demolition and resettlement?

Jesus

Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, and his leadership. Build on his immovable foundation. Don’t quit your job because it’s uncomfortable, or leave your church because you’ve been hurt by an elder. Whatever situation you find yourself in, let it drive you to dig your well deeper in Jesus. Don’t let pain or judgement cloud your vision. And, if you’re a leader, don’t let your leadership vision eclipse your vision of Christ. Seasons of unsettledness require that we let go of many things so that we can cling to the right thing.  

Testing

This is a season of testing for many people. What’s in your heart? What’s in your character? Does your Christianity fill you with the knowledge of good and evil, or does it fill you with the Tree of Life? The Lord uses the tests to expose what’s inside of us. Don’t run from the test. Embrace the discomfort and the narrow space you feel hemmed into. It is very valuable.

“See I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation.” The stone that is tested becomes precious, because the Lord can lay the weight of his house upon it and know that it won’t falter. The Lord is testing you so he can build truly weighty things, things of eternal and glorious importance on top of you. Don’t lament what you are losing. Have faith in the glorious thing God is building.

Intercession

The temptation is to flee the pain, or react to judgments, or feel powerless in systemic failure. True faith doesn’t run from our pain, or judge our judgers, or forfeit our authority because of our smallness. True faith stands in the counsel of the Lord and intercedes for his kingship to be fully expressed in every situation. True faith stands in the gap between “what is” and “what should be” and groans for the Spirit of God to move. Faith wrestles with God in the valley of bones until they come alive.

In every generation there is a convulsion in the organizational church that forces the true Bride of Christ to emerge. These are like labor contractions, and they seem to be getting stronger. There is a spiritual groaning in God’s holy people to rise up and be the bride equally yoked to her husband.

The Church

Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered together, there I am.” He also declared that the keys of his kingdom are given to his “gathered ones” to bind and loose heavenly realities on earth. The organizational church has partially lost its foundation built on spiritual authority. How often in our services are we releasing the leadership of the Holy Spirit of God in an atmosphere of prayer and worship? When we gather, how often are we activating God’s living power and supernatural gifts over one another? When we meet, how often are we groaning and laboring for God’s Spirit to fill the valley of bones around us: in our high schools, the addict’s corner, or the self-sufficient middle class?

Nonetheless, walking away from a church encrusted in systems and organization is not an option unless you are being called into another community of believers intentionally gathered to release the Lord’s Spirit in the earth. Even the Protestant reformers who left the abuses of the Catholic Church gathered in communities that grappled with the scriptures together, practiced the presence of the Holy Spirit through the sacraments, and labored in prayer for their communities.

A few more thoughts

Here are a few more thoughts for those of you still listening.

Live Free

Choose to live free from offense and judgment – to keep your heart soft and young and clear and full of fire in the face of shallow-rigid-blind-even accusatory religion. Now that’s difficult! And courageous! But doing that keeps your spirit young and beautiful. Reacting to judgment in the spirit of judgment transforms us into the very thing we despise. In the same way Jesus was, be silent before your accusers! Pray for those who persecute you. Let him defend you before our Father. Let him drown the accusations of men and of demons in his cleansing blood, and allow his words of life to wash over you.

Filter

Finally, filter the voices you are listening to. God is a spirit of creative joy. If everything feels heavy and depressed around you, something is wrong. Even in great testing, our hope in Jesus and his sweet fellowship should far outweigh the momentary trials we’re facing. The sources of pain in our lives need to be filtered through the healing and love of the Father. The anxieties of our generation need to be filtered through the resting peace of our shepherd. Even the voices of self-empowerment need to be silenced so we can learn to rest in Christ and drink life from him and not from self. To be empowered to filter out the opinions and the media of men that effuses from the tree of good and evil. The Tree of Life is the only source that will sustain you in the shaking.

Final Hope

My deepest hope is that your love for the Lord continues to grow to as hot as a furnace. And that you will experience the fullness of his freedom and joy in a community of believers groaning for their world to be renewed in his image.

Tags: church, community, prayer, joy, forgiveness, relationships, gathering, trueish