According to Christian Post, Disciple’s Church in Folsom, CA has caught some new attention for its local signs proclaiming “ChurchSucks.net” as a tease for the current sermon series on what church should really look like. According to the website, “You probably saw our signs … and thought ‘What’s Church Sucks?’ The sad fact is that sometimes church does suck. It sucks when people are made to feel like outsiders, or when power gets abused. It sucks when leaders don’t serve. When people are selfish, when we give up on people, or when talking trumps listening, church sucks!”
What’s interesting about this is that I can see how some people would be bothered by the seeming vulgarity of it. But others would be bothered by the negative portrayal of something they love. Even I, someone who usually tolerates a pretty high level of vulgarity, find myself a little taken aback with this use of language to describe God’s Holy Church. But I realize it isn’t intended for me, or other church-goers at all. It’s intended for the people who already think this way and might only be willing to attend a church that seems to take their concerns seriously. The reality is that this viewpoint is a very common one, both by non-church-attendees and even by many who go. And until we can admit that at least some of the time church is done very badly, we won’t be able to diagnose and solve the things that keep it from what it should be: heaven in advance here on Earth.
And the particular messages this church is offering that church should not make you feel like an outsider or make you feel oppressed are not merely true concerns but truly heart of Jesus’s preaching concerns. Jesus was the most frustrated with the way the religious leaders of His day were failing to properly represent Him and love people, and we embrace disaster (forget just flirting with it) when we forget just how easily His criticisms of them can become criticisms of us if we aren’t very careful to avoid them.
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