“I don’t care for organized religion.”
“I can’t stand the politics of church.”
“All they ever talk about at church is money.”
“When I go to church, I feel like a spectator seated for a production.”
“Church seems to be all about control and agendas.”

Chances are, if you have a pulse, you have heard one or more of these phrases uttered from time to time. Perhaps you have said them yourself. While these phrases used to be mostly relegated to those who were outside of the church – these indictments have more recently been found to fall from the lips of those within the church. Notwithstanding the mixed motives of some in making these indictments, it might be helpful to sort out whether or not there is any truth to the criticism. You see, the organized, institutional church doesn’t have the best track record of listening very reflectively to its critics. And, that has been true all the way back to the Book of Revelations – where the critic happened to be the founder – Jesus Himself. Basically, Jesus was saying to many of the churches in the Book of Revelations, “Hey, if you don’t get your act together and begin to do church and to be the church in the way that I intended, I am outta here.”

What were some of the problems that Jesus noticed in these churches? Well, at Ephesus, it seemed as if there were men running around trying to be big-shots – trying to control other people with the title of Apostle. There was also the problem of having lost sight of foundational principles – like being in love with Jesus. In Pergamum and Thyatira, the churches so wanted to be relevant and popular, that they adopted the customs and rituals of the surrounding religions. The church at Sardis was living off of its past reputation of greatness without the hint of a current & intimate relationship with the living Christ. The church at Laodicea was guilty of equating financial prosperity with spiritual vitality. In doing so, they had become spiritually lethargic and impotent.

And so it goes. Most of the epistles in the New Testament were written towards churches that drifted from the elemental teachings of the faith. It was one of the Apostle Paul’s greatest anxieties when he said, “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from the simple and pure devotion to Christ.” II Corinthians 11:3.

I believe that we are living in a time of great, cataclysmic change within the church in the United States. For many years, as the church has grown more financially affluent and methodologically precise, we have, at the same time, lost much of our influence in the world. But, what makes our situation more dire is that our hypocrisy and dullness of spirit is no longer contained to a private rebuke from our Lord. No, we have taken our hypocrisy and dullness of spirit and marketed it to the world as the real deal. Jesus has been obscured by our complexity.

In the closing pages of J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, the reader observes the movement of the elves from middle earth to the sea. Across the sea is their true home and the smell of salt air stirs their longings. Without any particular notice being given, no publications, and no announcements, the elves spontaneously – one by one - begin to move toward the sea to board boats that will take them to their fatherland.

We are witnessing a similar movement in our day in regard to the church. Without notice, publication, or an announcement, we are seeing masses of Christians moving toward the heart of Jesus in regard to the church. The heaviness of this middle earth existence, wrought with church wars, budget battles, bigger buildings, and flashier productions, have raised a level of disenchantment that cannot be stopped. The sense seems to be along these lines: “If I am really a Christian, and if everything I have read in the Bible is true, I better get moving. I long to see my life really count for something other than just showing up week to week.”

The destination that those who have heard the call seem to be seeking is a place where they can live out a simple, authentic, fruitful, day by day living relationship with the risen Lord. It is a place where the teachings of Jesus are not compartmentalized and marginalized to a couple of hours on Sunday, but rather, it is a place where Jesus invades and permeates every aspect of one’s life. It is a place where Jesus manifests His presence in the ordinary details of life.

At Patrick Crossing, we are trying to do and be the church in such a way that the love of Christ, the love of our families and the love of neighbor are never obscured by the weight and maintenance of a church machine or bureaucracy. The process of learning to do simple church requires first an unlearning of how church has been handed down to us.  The tendency to manage, market, forecast and artificially stimulate church growth is a troubling tendency that has been inherited and one we must learn to let go of. Leaving behind such worldly tools requires real intentionality.

If we were doing this journey on our own, absent of other people hearing the same call all around the globe; or, if we doing it without the comfort of an historical precedent, there would be cause for concern.  Cults and sects ply their trade by being totally unique. But that is not the case. As has been mentioned, the growing number of people who are leaving the institutional church in favor of simple church gatherings is staggering. And, one need only read a bit of church history to realize that the Lord has done such things before through people like Martin Luther, Jonathan Wesley, Patrick of Ireland, and many, many others.