Churches can’t fake this….

 

Just across our state line over in Weber City there once was a charming restaurant called Gasthaus Edelweiss that served homemade German food and I miss it terribly.  Their tiny place was cozy & quaint, replete with rustic furnishings and German folk music playing in the background, it was idyllic, but it was more than the delightful decor that captivated me -- there was a substantial quality there that drew me in.

If you never made it there to eat, their unique atmosphere had the right blend aesthetics & ambiance, the wife spoke with a thick German accent as she presented the menu with a vibrant flair, she had a feisty yet endearing-attitude while her husband, an Eastman retiree, rarely left the kitchen where he quietly cooked and cleaned.  Their food was always amazing and I know the real deal when it comes to European cuisine, having eaten plenty of it my whole entire life, my mother-in-law is from Germany and my maternal-grandparents were first generation immigrants whose parents emigrated from Germany and Bohemia.  

Why was this enchanting restaurant so special to me?  Authenticity is what really describes the experience of Gasthaus Edelweiss, their food and the folks running it and their authenticity attracted me and brought me back, their authenticity was why my wife and I loved to take friends and family there and it’s why we miss it and still talk about it long after their restaurant closed.  Other than the closing of their doors, I wish more people could say the same about their experience with church because authenticity is the secret “ingredient” that’s missing in too many churches these days.  

Churches can imitate efforts at generating gatherings or emulate events engineered to wow or dazzle and they can even fabricate circumstances and experiences that are lively or enticing, but churches can’t fake authenticity.  When we run our churches like they are another division of some business or when we focus on pleasing our “customers,” we forfeit authenticity -- I’m all about being attractive to visitors, but what is it exactly we are inviting people to?  

We somehow mistake church for the clothes we wear on Sunday, the pews we sit in, the lightshow & presentation or the name over the door, but in our pursuit of the externals instead of the eternals, we’ve taken our eyes off of Jesus, His Word, and the power of participating with His community.  There’s a reason why so many spiritually-wounded people are cynical, jaded, and skeptical of organized religion, it’s because there's a difference between going to church and being the church.  There is no saccharin-sugar-substitute for feeling cared for, cared about, and loved through real friendships, relationships, or mutually edifying and encouraging each other, or mentoring and growing together, none of these community based essentials can be fabricated or faked.  

When it comes to church-life too often we try to find spiritual satisfaction with microwaved meals or settling for grocery store aisle samples instead of savoring the banquet God has in mind for us; maybe if we focused on being more authentic we could set a table people would long for and miss when they were away, as they say, the proof is in the pudding, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!  Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” (Ps 34:8)

Do I really have to “go to church…?”

Maybe instead of getting stumped trying to answer the old question, “Do I really have to go to church to be saved, to go to heaven, to be a Christian, etc...?” maybe it’s time congregations ask ourselves what is it about our reputation that turns people away or leads them to believe churches are phony? Sadly, many people skip gathering with a church even though they are curious about matters of faith.    

In other words, perhaps churches need to think about why many people are interested in “the Man upstairs,” these same people who say “Give me Jesus, keep the church...” and as a church we need to think about why are they looking for a hall pass, a loophole, a permission slip, an absence excuse?  What is the source of their contempt or disinterest in Sunday morning worship services?  

Most believers subscribe to the idea that to be considered faithful, church attendance is a responsibility, a duty, an obligation.  None of those categories sound fun, interesting, or exciting.  So maybe, the first reason people evade and avoid the church building is because they assume it will be boring -- once in a while even a broken clock is right, so they might have a point here.     

Another idea is the fact that there are congregations who are more than critical and less than welcoming.  If you don’t fit their mold, you remain on the outside looking in.  These same congregations appear to be on the judgmental side.  

Then there are people who believe worship services are out of touch with the real world and that we are geared towards promoting blind faith, being anti-intellectual, anti-science, and we are more or less a gathering of flat-earthers -- not necessarily mouth-breathers, just irrelevant and uneducated.   After all, didn’t the church blind Galileo?

Then, there’s the opinion that the church is only interested in your money.  The hypocrisy of it all.  

Perhaps these are our consequences when instead of becoming fishers of men, we became keepers of the aquarium.  Maybe those resistors have a point. 

Has the church lost sight of the value of differing viewpoints, backgrounds, and ethnicities?  Paul was clear, the church is one body that is made up of various members who are attached by the Spirit, not by their similarities: “12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” (I Cor 12:12-13)

Has the church misunderstood the purpose of gathering together?  Some misuse Hebrews 10 to make the case for gathering on Sunday mornings, but the passage has nothing to do with any day of the week or for that matter a building: “24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 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.”  The Greek word for “meet together” isn’t “ecclesia” for church assemblies, it is “episunagoge” which is deeper and more significant than sitting in a pew, it is about an inspirational community-based integrated lifestyle that goes far beyond a Sunday morning worship service. 

So yes, the next time someone asks if they “have to” go to church, yes let’s remember that we are the church and the church isn’t a building, it is the people, people who gather in the name of Jesus to break bread, share scripture, pray together, and nurture and encourage each other.  And, instead of being annoyed or irritated by this age-old question of the necessity of church attendance, be inspired to help restore their trust in the church through authentic friendships, genuine care, and Christian love -- instead of just inviting people to a church building or event, let’s actually be the church.  

Originally published on 1/3/25 in the Kingsport Timesnews click here to see