The Church, Concentration and Relevance

The past month I’ve been teaching on Sundays the Doctrine of the Church. (Click here for audio links). In my reading and reflections I’ve come across a great deal of commentary from those disgruntled with the church and have chosen to leave the church.

There are a lot of reasons for church leaving but one of the common themes has something to do with “church is boring and irrelevant”.

Ted Kluck responds to that cry in his book, “Why We Love the Church”. Ted points out…

“Relevance isn’t a posture you affect that has more to do with lights, music, candles, mystery, or space than with the gospel. Church, to us, should be as relevant as the gym is to the boxer…We wouldn’t go into a fight without training.

A few summers ago I trained as a boxer, mostly so that I could experience what the fighters experienced who I interviewed for my first book, Facing Tyson. I had never concentrated harder in my life than when I was in the ring, alone, with another guy who wanted nothing more than to knock me unconscious…

Church is boring because we neuter it of its importance.” (p. 104)

When church is a place of training my life for fighting evil, the evil one and the sin within me I also find it takes concentration and whole-hearted engagement. If it is not that important to my daily battles then it does become boring.

I suggest the question is not, “Is my church relevant?” but rather, “Is my life fighting the good fight?” (2 Timothy 4:7-8)