Is Church Still Worth the Effort?

“Our reasons for staying, leaving, and returning to church are as complex and layered as we are.”

Have you ever heard that old saying “I was born on a Friday and in church the next Sunday!”? Okay, it might not be exactly how my life started, but the sentiment, that I grew up in the culture of church, rings true. I am blessed to have parents who are true believers. The taught and led by example that church is not just a building or an institution, or even a denomination, but the body of Christ, imperfectly enacting His will on earth.

Despite that solid foundation of faith, I have struggled in my relationship with the church. I’ve been caught up in politics, disgusted by hypocrisy, frustrated by traditions, confused by doctrines, and bored to tears by routines that had turned into ruts. To this day my relationship with the church, both local and global, is complicated, though I think my heart has softened a great deal as I have grown in my walk with Christ.

Not Alone In My Doubt

Perhaps because of my complex background with the church, Rachel Held Evan’s book Searching for Sunday resonated thoroughly.

I completely identified with her experience as a youth in the church.

“At a time when most of my peers were struggling to find an identity, I knew exactly who I was: the church girl, the girl who always had a place in her youth group family, the girl on fire for God. I’m not sure I can ever calculate the vale of that community, that sense of belonging and of being loved. It never occurred to me that such a fire could be washed out.”

Over the years I have tried many, many churches. While I’ve never completely turned my back on God’s people, I have spent many a Sunday morning in bed using personal preference as an excuse for my absence. I’ve spent hours wrestling with the idea of what the “right” Sunday morning/community/church programs should look like. Woe to the church that failed to greet me sincerely or played their music to loud/slow/soft! They received a scathing diatribe of venom on our drive home, simply because they didn’t meet my expectations for that day. Of course the root of the issue had little to do with the actual church and more to do with my heart.

“Cynicism may seem a mild transgression, but it is a patient predator that suffocates hope, slowly, over many years…”

It has been a struggle to recognize this in myself, but also encouraging to learn that I am not alone in my frustration.

Faith Through Frustration

What I enjoyed most about this book was that it didn’t offer absolute answers. She never comes to the conclusion that one church is wrong and another is right, but rather explores the vastly different angles each church uses to approach and understand the Gospel. She compares it to different branches from the same tree, facets of a diamond, each reflecting a different color. No denomination or institution gets it all right, but neither do they get it all wrong. When it comes down to it, church is not a one size fits all kind of thing. But there is an underlying foundation that can be found at the heart of every community of believers and that is why we keep searching.

“When my faith had become little more than an abstraction, a set of propositions to be affirmed or denied, the tangible, tactile nature of the sacraments invited me to touch, smell, taste, hear, and see God in the stuff of everyday life again…Christianity isn’t meant to be simply believed, it’s meant to be lived, shared, eaten, spoken, and enacted in the presence of other people.”

Evans’ story is honest and unfinished, evidence of an active and growing faith that asks questions and seeks the kingdom of God. The church is not perfect, but it is what Jesus gave us and therefore worth wrestling with.

-Quotes from Searching for Sunday:  Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans, Nelson Books, 2015