The Church is a Whore!
Dear Younger Me,
What is the best piece of advice I can give you? That’s the question I ask myself as I sit down to write these letters to you. I’m trying to help guide you through the rough waters of young adulthood the best I can. I think back to the catalytic moments in my life and try to extract at least a small nugget of practical wisdom that I can bring home to you.
The next piece of advice is among the most important that I can give you. I want you to commit to something that is becoming less and less popular. It’s one of the commitments that I’ve always kept. It’s one investment that I have been consistent in making. It’s the one seed that I’m glad I planted long ago and that I nurtured throughout my adult life. It hasn’t always been a smooth ride, but I don’t regret it one bit. And it also happens to be the one thing that everyone is frustrated with, walking away from, and ignoring right now. Please whatever you do, follow my advice on this one.
What commitment am I talking about? I’m talking about your intentional effort to commit and belong to a local church. Yes, belonging to a church is vital to your personal growth. I know that the reputation of the local church has taken a beating lately (and we deserve it), but don’t turn your back on her.
Churches have never been perfect. Back in the 3rd Century, people became frustrated with the church and complained to its leaders about its corruption and ineffectiveness. They shouted, “The Church has become a whore!!!”
To which, the venerated Bishop of Hippo, Saint Augustine himself is said to have replied, “The Church may be a whore, but she is my mother.” Augustine didn’t deny the corruption and waywardness of the Church. He acknowledged it and invested his life into nurturing her to health.
Dear Younger Me, please don’t turn your back on the church. Not now. Not ever. And it’s not primarily because the church needs you. It’s because you need the church even more. For me, outside of the divine work of the Holy Spirit in my life, belonging to a body of believers has been the primary catalyst God has used in my personal growth.
And when I say “church,” I’m referring to a local body of believers that is made up of annoying sinners, hypocrites, Pharisees, and prodigals (of which I am chief). Your membership, involvement, and investment in the life of a messy family of redeemed sinners are integral to your personal development. No matter how strong and healthy you are, you cannot function apart from a body. Without an intentional connection to a local church body, you will be “dis-membered” like a severed appendage. Yes, the local church benefits from the investment of your service and gifts, but it doesn’t need you to survive and thrive. But the same can’t be said about you. The church may gain from your talent and gifts, but you gain from the church your life and breath. This is where you learn from God, where you receive healing and grace and come to understand love. You need the church more than she needs you.
Unconvinced? Let me close with some wise words from Charles Spurgeon.
“Give yourself to the Church. You that are members of the Church have not found it perfect and I hope that you feel almost glad that you have not. If I had never joined a Church till I had one that was perfect, I would have never joined one at all! And the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect church after I had become a member of it. Still imperfect as it is, it is the dearest place on earth to us…
All who have first given themselves to the Lord, should, as speedily as possible, also give themselves to the Lord’s people. How else is there to be a Church on the earth? If it is right for anyone to refrain from membership in the Church, it is right for everyone, and then the testimony for God would be lost to the world!
As I have already said, the Church is faulty, but that is no excuse for your not joining it, if you are the Lord’s. Nor need your own faults keep you back, for the Church is not an institution for perfect people, but a sanctuary for sinners saved by grace, who, though they are saved, are still sinners and need all the help they can derive from the sympathy and guidance of their fellow believers. The Church is the nursery for God’s weak children where they are nourished and grow strong. It is the fold for Christ’s sheep — the home for Christ’s family.” (Charles Spurgeon, London, April 5, 1891)
Just trust me.
With love,
Your Future Self
