Falling Back In Love With The Established Church

We hear it all the time: more and more people leaving established community churches to go to new ministries and church plants. As a Christian, I love hearing that God is moving in new churches. As a pastor, I have been saddened hearing about people abandoning their established churches. I never thought I would become one of those people, but it happened.

When I resigned from pastoring my last church, I decided I was done with the established church. It was not that I felt ill toward churches with history and heritage, but that I simply did not feel cut out for the work. They were not deficient. I was.

But that deficiency was something I allowed to fester into disdain for traditional churches. Nevermind that I and my family had been hurt so many times by multiple churches. I was bothered that I could not seem to make it work. So I decided I was done with it. 

It finally made sense to me why people were leaving older churches for newer ones: it is extremely frustrating to feel like you are contributing to something that is not working as well as it could. This is not to say that all established churches are failing, but many are simply not achieving the goals the Church was established for.

So I created a plan. If I could not pastor an established church, maybe it was time I tried something different. My family and I would remain in the community where we felt God had called us and establish a new work. We would rent a house and start a house church and with time, God would bless it and use it.

It was a good plan. It was an achievable plan. It was a biblical plan. But it was not God's plan. 

Every time I set out to work on my grand plan to further the Kingdom, God interrupted. Between moving, vehicle problems, and financial issues, all that was achieved over several months was keeping the lawn maintained. Finally, my wife let me in on the little secret God had been telling her: This was not His plan for us.

I have always submitted my plans to the Lord. Not once had we done anything without God's approval. But I was so busy adoring the idea of a new church that I missed the beauty of the established church.

You see, in the midst of courting what would be my victorious ministry, I was traveling and preaching in a different church every Sunday. We had some great experiences in many of those churches and they were not lost on me. I cherished them. But every time I tried to imagine myself pastoring those churches, I couldn't.

This, to me, felt like God's way of confirming that I was not fit to pastor a traditional church. In reality, I was not meant to pastor one of those churches. I was meant to pastor a church I didn't even know existed.

My wife also revealed to me that she had written a prayer, a petition really, of all of the things she desired in our next ministry, whatever that may be. None of the requests were frivolous, but very specific to the needs of ourselves and our children. I quickly realized her prayer and my plan were headed for an ugly collision.

Next came the phone call. It came randomly while I was at work. I could never have expected it. I was invited to come and preach at a church four hours away. We were not keen on the distance, but my preaching assignments had stop coming in and I wanted to stay in the pulpit as much as possible.

During that phone call, I realized several of my wife's petitions were answered. When we made the trip, we were welcomed into a church that was not just looking for a pastor. They were looking for an answer to prayer as well.

They had been hurt too. As I was disillusioned with the established church, they were disillusioned with typical pastors. Just as I was looking for a positive change and an opportunity to lead and feed the flock of God, they desired a positive change and someone to equip the saints and do the work of an evangelist.

I was refreshed by the attitude I found there. These people were not a bunch of bitter old folks who feared change. Rather, they knew something needed to change. They understood they needed to reach their community if they wanted their church to grow again. They prayed for my wife and checked on her after a surgery.

It was not long before I realized that this was why God had not allowed my plans to prosper. This was why I committed my way to Him. He always knows better.  

Does God work in newer churches? Yes. Is Jesus honored in a church plant? Absolutely. But is He done with the established church? No way. 

The jury is still out on whether or not I'm cut out for pastoring an established church, but my love for it has been restored. I know many others out there, pastors or not, have felt the same way before: the established church is just not the place for me. Maybe it's not. Perhaps you are meant to serve in a younger church. But commit your way to the Lord and see if He just might help you fall back in love with the established church.