I’ve attended a few churches in my life. I can count 15 that I’ve either been a member of or attended regularly with my parents and have clear memories of. There are quite a few more that I have visited over the years. One thing that is true of all of them is that they weren’t perfect. 

In one, the music was not well done. In another, the preacher was not a particularly good speaker. Yet another sang a song that I thought was questionable theologically. This other preacher spoke well, but I don’t think the scripture he used actually supported his point (or that any scripture that comes to mind would support that point). I could, of course, go on and on with complaints. Some of them would be about unimportant things, grounded only in my opinion. Others would be about serious theological issues or instances of hypocrisy. Whatever the issues, I guarantee that no church you or I ever set foot in will be perfect.

What then? 

Maybe we should just give up on this whole church thing. I certainly know quite a few Christians who have done exactly that, and I will admit to being tempted on occasion. However, if we seek to follow New Testament teachings, that’s just not an option.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them:

Romans 12:4-6a

It’s difficult for all of these different people to be one body, serving and supporting each other, if they are disconnected. Paul tells us that the purpose of our gifts is to serve one another, not for our own benefit. We cannot exercise our gifts as intended outside of a community of believers.

The teaching goes further than that. The author of Hebrews makes it quite clear that abandoning church is not the right option.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:24-25

Maybe we just need to do church differently. I regularly hear of people who are trying to recreate church in various ways. The motives here can be excellent, and the results can be God-honoring, as they seek to draw people into the church and strengthen those in it. I most often hear that the goal is to make things more like the “New Testament church,” because of all that God accomplished then.

But I want to let you in on a little secret: the New Testament church was not perfect. If it had been, a large portion of the New Testament wouldn’t exist. All those letters provide correction and guidance to various 1st-century churches, which wouldn’t have been needed.

God actually doesn’t expect churches to be perfect. He only expects the people in them to grow toward perfection. We are supposed to be getting to know Christ better and becoming more like him. In the church, we are supposed to be helping one another toward that goal of Christlikeness. What we’re not supposed to do is to expect any of the people around us to have actually achieved perfection.

In the middle of Paul’s description of the church in Colossians 3, he says,

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Colossians 3:12-13

A perfect church wouldn’t require patience or “bearing with one another.” The church is made up of people–mostly people who are sincerely trying to follow God, but imperfect people nonetheless.

As we do this church thing, we need to acknowledge that we also are not yet perfected. Remember Paul’s instructions as we interact with our fellow imperfect Christ-followers. Then in that gathering, we will find the greatest purpose of the church:

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.

Matthew 18:20

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