When Church Sucks
I’m leading a workshop with the title, “When Church Sucks”, on Sunday with a group of young people from Uniting Church backgrounds. Church is not easy for many adults. It’s even harder for most teenagers.
Here’s a list of reasons why church sucks for different people
1. The sermons are boring.
2. The sermons are too long (usually a problem if they’re boring)
3. The people are cliquey
4. The people are unfriendly
5. The people criticize or judge me for my style in clothing and hairstyle
6. The music is bad (too old, poorly performed, poorly sung, too loud, not loud enough)
7. I don’t know the music
8. Too much revolves around singing
9. Not much evidence of faith in God
10. People are fanatical to the point of being anti intellectual
11. No sense of vision beyond running Sunday services
12. Direction of church is dominated by one person
13. Everything revolves around the pastor
14. Lack of imagination - nothing much changes
15. Lack of flexibility
16. Little sense of practical connection with real needs
17. Not connected to important issues in the world
18. Focused on narrow set of moral issues
19. Inward focused - no sense of connecting with outsiders
20. Lack of decent food and drink
In some ways these are the corollaries of a list put out by the National Church Life Survey people in Sydney - indicators of healthy congregational life.
1. Alive and growing faith
2. Vital and nurturing worship
3. Strong and growing belonging
4. Clear and owned vision
5. Inspiring and empowering leadership
6. Imaginative and flexible innovation
7. Practical and diverse service
8. Willing and effective faith sharing
9. Intentional and welcoming inclusion
The focus of the workshop will be on what young people can do about their list of complaints, ranging from 101 things to do during a dull sermon, to developing new environments in which people are welcome, to getting out more. The reality is that we can invest so many expectations in a 60 - 120 minute gathering that will always be hard to meet. Engaging in world poverty, building strong friendships, developing a sense of shared vision, are all 7 days a week activities that happen outside church buildings.
So what would you add to the list? What advice would you give a young person grappling with anything from dull to abusive church environments?
