Before becoming a pastor, I worked in business and education. While I had volunteered in churches for most of my adult life, it wasn’t until the last few years that I made that service my vocation.
So when I entered ministry, I did so after having developed many valuable relationships outside of the Church with people who have vastly different views on any number of issues. These people, I consider my friends. But I quickly realized that a large number of people in our churches do not share friendships with people who hold views that are significantly different than their own.
Then, just a little over a year into my pastoral role, COVID emerged, along with a cascade of other issues, and the disconnects I had been noticing about the Church and how the Church interacts with the outside world became hard to ignore.
A multitude of ideological camps emerged, and church leaders were thrown into a quagmire of anger, fear, and confusion.
Then people left. Many didn’t return. And through podcasts, videos, articles, and social media, they started telling those of us who remained in the Church why.
They were merciless in their criticism. But instead of the Church listening with humility and love, many Christians, and even our church leaders, fell to the temptation to argue their point of view and defend their own stance. In short, many of us chose ideology over the mission of the Church.
It doesn’t have to be like this. There is another way.
Speaking both to those who have left and those who have remained, Back to Church is an alternate response to the us v. them mindset that is devastating the witness of the Church.
It’s time to come Back to Church.