How to Respond to: "I Don't Believe in the Organized Church"

Now and then I run into someone who tells me: “I don’t believe in the organized church.” This question pops up and serves as a kind of wall as if to say, “I’m a Christian, but don’t talk to me about coming to your church.” Usually a person like this has been wounded in some way in the past when they were part of a local church. Somebody might have said something like “Haven’t seen you in a while?” Or, maybe someone else sat in their pew. Or, maybe the pastor forgot their name. Or... you can go on and on with this list. It’s very unlikely that they would have even become a Christian if it had not been for the ministry of a local church. But that church, like all churches, is full of sinners. While the church proclaims the Gospel and serves as the Holy Spirit’s instrument of salvation, the church also has its problems. Churches can be like a rose bush. From a distance we have the beautiful flowers of the Gospel, but when you get close, you sooner or later get pricked a little. 

For a long time, when someone said they didn’t believe in the organized church, I tended to be a little sympathetic. I know that churches can sometimes wound as well as heal. It’s a part of life in God’s kingdom. But after a while I began to realize that this really doesn’t help. I needed to find another way to be both sympathetic to the problem of imperfect churches and to uphold the incredible goodness of the churches that really do bring Jesus into this world. I found that way by responding with another question. After listening a little to their crabbing about the organized church, I then gently (and humorously) ask them to tell me about the “unorganized church.” After all, how well are things going there? How many baptisms have they had? How’s did the Vacation Bible School go there last summer? Do they have a food pantry?  That question is my way to get them to see that there is no such thing as the unorganized church. It takes organization to be the church and to fulfill the mission that God has given us to go to all nations to make disciples. 

In the Book of Acts we see how the church immediately began to get organized in order to do God's will. The apostles appointed deacons to help with the food distribution to the poor. Paul sent Titus to the island of Crete in order to appoint pastors who could lead the church there. He also started a fund drive to collect money for those who were suffering from famine. There were problems. The James led a council in Acts 15 to iron out some differences that arose in the church. Paul had to settle disputes in almost every church he planted. The church is far from perfect. But it is founded on the perfect Son of God. His work was to redeem us from our sins and to bring us to God and to one another. In Ephesians five Paul compared the church to a bride adorned for her Bridegroom (Jesus). When people say they follow Christ but don't want anything to do with the "organized" church, they're really saying, "I want the Bridegroom but not the bride." It doesn't work that way and will never work that way. 

So basically you just have to bite the bullet when it comes to being part of the imperfect, organized church. But better that than to be bitten by the roaring lion that prowls about about looking for someone to devour.