Day 221: Chip on the Shoulder

One of the trends that you see often on Facebook and other social network sites are the “anti institutional church” groups that you can be a part of. I understand that people can be hurt by church…in fact I am a person that has experienced much of this in my years as a pastor. The Facebook group that I run deals with many that have been hurt by the church, I am not sure there is a better place to find healing than in groups of open and loving discussion like these. I am concerned though that there could be a potential danger in groups like this however.

In Wisconsin we have a store called “Mill’s Fleet Farm.” Now typically this store is huge and often times referred to as the “MAN MALL”. However, there is one in the city I live which makes you loathe and cringe every time you set foot into it. Why? Because it is small, they don’t have everything they advertise and quite honestly it has a serious backwoods feel. Does this mean because this one store is horrible that I won’t shop at any of them? NO! Because if I drive 35 minutes to the next closest store I will soon discover it is a far better one.In fact you hear angels singing when you walk in.

What I am saying is each church is different. Just because you have had a bad experience at one or many churches does not mean they are all bad. If you choose to go back you have to be willing to be friended, and welcome the new people. I see too many times those who attend a different church and instantly they have a wall up and make judgment calls on everything they see done. I would suggest giving a new church a try if you are fed up. They are not all the same and I truly believe there are many good ones out there. Sometimes we just have to be willing to take the chip off our shoulder and start loving people again.