I would encourage you to remind yourself of what I’ve had to say to myself when I’ve been disillusioned with church: “It’s not about me.” 

We all know that sometimes things can be difficult in churches. I’ve gone through it, and so have most of you. I experienced it when I was a pastor for fourteen years, and I’ve experienced it in the twenty-two years since.

I love and wholeheartedly agree with this blog post from pastor and author Ray Ortlund. 

I appreciated this writing by Oswald Chambers, a Scottish minister and teacher whose teachings were compiled in the classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest.

God delights in his children’s enjoyment of one another. True, Christ alone is sufficient to meet all our needs. Yet, God has designed us for relationship not only with himself but also with others of our kind.

I tire of the incessant church-bashing and endless tales of people disillusioned with their churches. Yes, Christians can be jerks, and we’ve all had rough times in churches, largely because they consist of people too much like us: sinner-jerks in need of grace and truth and growth.

I recently read an interesting book by Philip D. Kenneson: Life on the Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community. Here is an excerpt.  

Scripture often describes our longing for God as a deep hunger or thirst. Hunger and thirst are basic drives in our bodies, and there is also a hunger and thirst of the soul.