The Church's Misaligned Immune System

Getting Out of Our Own Way

I’ve heard it said that churches, like ships, turn slowly. From experience, I can say that’s generally true.

But it’s not just that change happens slowly. Change is also typically resisted every step of the way.

To mix my metaphors a bit, it’s not just that the church is a ship that turns slowly.
It’s that it has an immune system to resist change from all sides.

On the one hand, that’s a great attribute when we’re talking about changes for the worse. Organizational immune systems identify outside threats and go to work shutting them down. For this reason, rarely can a wolf come in and turn a congregation on day one.

But on the other hand, when needed reforms are suggested, the resistance to change becomes a deadly hindrance. Like a body’s immune system fighting back against life-saving treatment, an organization’s immune system comes to life and begins attacking the very truths that it desperately needs.

“You can’t bind that,” and “We don’t have to,” and “We’ve always done it this way” start being lobbed at anyone attempting to push Scriptural reform.
Heel-digging, accusation-slinging, and back room-campaigning go into effect to resist correction.
Call the teacher arrogant or mean, and it’s pretty much game, set, match.
The immune system is strong.

Unfortunately, many churches are desperately in need of back-to-the-Bible changes.

The decline

Just pointing out the obvious, that if statistical patterns are continued we will be in serious trouble in a few decades, is met with scorn and an insistence that we stop talking about it. The malignant immune system resists diagnosis. I won’t belabor the point, as I’ve already written at length on it.

Improving church involvement

Since I wrote a book on the idea that the church was meant to be much more than what we usually see, I’ve had the privilege of hearing from many Christians who share the same passion for helping the church grow in love and faithfulness.

They are interested in hospitality and deep spiritual fellowship that transcends the typical church program. They want to live out the “one anothers.”

And more often than not, they are immediately stone-walled by those who have no interest in building a tight-knit church. Close fellowship is not on the list of boxes to check, so the box checkers are content to go without it.

To be frank, many members of the churches of Christ would be more than content to come in on Sunday and Wednesday and hear lessons on how the Baptists are wrong about instruments and why the sinner’s prayer doesn’t save, show up to the occasional Gospel meeting and pot luck, and call it good.

The immune system makes the active members the misfits. “Don’t bring that passion in here, we’re already going to heaven the way we are,” they’re essentially told.

Battle of the sexes

Another common example occurs as we begin to recover the Biblical roles of men and women. Many younger people are moving away from the feminism that has defined recent generations. In these families, “who wears the pants” isn’t a question, because they believe Ephesians 5 and 1 Peter 3 mean what they say.

As one might expect, this doesn’t go over well with those who functionally ignored those verses.

It’s an open secret that many churches are run by some small cohort of influential women. Do you think they’re just going to peacefully cede control as men begin to step up and try to lead the right way?

If the preacher crosses the wrong woman, he loses his job. If the elders make an unpopular decision, the back channels start working to throw a fit that will see the elders’ authority undermined. Whether it works comes down to how many men in the church have a backbone, and how many are well-trained to cave when “mama ain’t happy.”

The immune system rages. The church is undermined. The home is weakened. But at least we didn’t hurt anybody’s feelings.

What are kids for

Children are arguably the most touchy subject of all. Walk into a church with more than 3 children and you’re likely to have some older lady ask if “you know what causes that.”

Teach that we should expect our children to become Christians and that parents bear responsibility for their children’s faithfulness and people lose their minds. Insist that “believing children” as an elder qualification (Titus 1:6) means all of them and you’ll get eye-rolls at every turn.

We don’t treasure kids. We don’t have a plan for them. We don’t even know what they’re for. It’s no wonder we’re three generations in to losing the majority of our kids.

All of these things are attacked with an immune response because they are viewed as a repudiation of generational beliefs and ways of life. But the question isn’t “Is that what I would do?” The question, as always, must be “What is pleasing to the Lord?” (Ephesians 5:10).

And that’s the big problem here: it’s a Christianity that’s about us and what we want, and not about Christ and what He wants.

When the body is unhealthy, it’s no wonder its immune system is misaligned to attack the truth.

I write this because I’ve received a strange, sudden outpouring of frustrations in my inbox from elders, preachers, and church members. People who want to help the church are being pushed out by people who want to maintain a cushy status quo.

Yes, I’m only getting one side of the story. But I’m also acutely acquainted with how these situations work, and I know what they’re dealing with. The stagnation is killing us.

I pray the active people can find each other. To be honest, I pray that in some small way my work can help them realize they aren’t alone, and maybe connect the foreword-thinking, Bible-emphasizing people with each other either online or (even better) in their localities.

So no, you are not alone. The resistance is hard, but the cause is right and it’s worth the difficulty. The good news is, Christ and His truth always outlast even the fiercest resistance. Keep pushing.

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Notes

• Think Deeper Podcast this week covers the church’s approach to sexuality. You can check it out by going here.

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