This past weekend, Jill and I had the privilege of visiting Emmaeus Road Church in Bozeman. Their pastor, Ron Boomsma, is currently in the Philippines training pastors on how to handle God’s word. If you’ve been around our church, you know my affinity and love for the Filipinos. I have had the joy of serving alongside Jeffry Jo, the SGC National Leader there, at the launch of SGC Philippines. I have traveled to the Philippines often to support and help Jeff. So, this pulpit switch was a gift for us. ERC Bozeman is a growing, healthy church, and Ron and his wife, Tami, have been a steady, stabilizing presence. We had lunch meetings and dinner with a few different couples, and the joy on their faces was evident. Their love and appreciation for Ron and Tami were palpable, and the church service was a great experience. It’s a smaller church (about 80), but the soil is ripe, and the people are eager.
One unique part of this trip was reconnecting with a man (Justice Kerr) who over 35 years ago was in my first youth group in Dallas, Texas. He and his family moved to Bozeman in July 2020 so he could become the Head of Schools at Petra Academy, a Classical Christian School. We had dinner with them on Friday and then enjoyed the Super Bowl at their house. Justice was in our wedding as a groomsman, but we’ve lost touch over the years. So connecting with him and Mandy was amazing.
Church Fatigue?
As we were coming back on Monday, I started thinking about the 35+ years of ministry that I’ve had. For some reason, my ministry has been one in which I’ve helped people, churches, and Christian organizations work through conflicts or hard things. I have found myself teaching the “one another” passages in various places. And I have been called in, at times, to help navigate some nasty things.
One comment I hear periodically is that people are tired. They’re tired of the fighting; tired of trying to do the right thing and getting slapped (not physically but emotionally and relationally); tired of trying to connect with others and feeling lonely; tired of giving/sacrificing and not seeing fruit. On the plane, I started thinking about ‘Church Fatigue,’ where conflicts are the norm, worship is dead, and the preaching is moralistic. People are tired.
It made me wonder, what’s the solution for this? I asked this because I’m hearing rumblings of this at CLF. As I’ve told our elders/pastors, ‘we’ve got a couple of sectors in our church on fire.’ And while we’re faithfully working through these things (seeing great peace in some situations), it’s tiring work. People involved are still hurt, and fatigue persists. But I wonder: when Church fatigue sets in, do we answer the right question? Is the problem, “Church?” Or is the problem us? Let me explain:
As we’ve gone through the ‘one another’ passages this year, it has become increasingly clear to me that the norm in the church is not peace; it’s people hurting one another, not treating others like Jesus, and not responding to those hurts as God desires. I think it’s important to get our expectations correct. This doesn’t mean we should lower them so far that we believe that conflict and struggle are what we need and want. What I mean is that we need to stop being surprised by them when they happen. We live in a fallen world, go to church with people who are still battling the presence of sin, and bad things are going to happen. But God has intervened in our world and lives to prevent conflict from winning. God has made a way through Christ to keep working and ‘fighting’ for peace (Ephesians 4:1-3). Further, God told us in Galatians 6:9, that we will reap a good harvest of fruit if we do not give up when we’re weary. And that passage directly follows Galatians 6:1-2, which speaks of gently restoring sinning Christians.
When we gather as the Church, we’re gathering with the citizens of heaven (albeit still on earth with sin present), who are covered with the blood of the eternal covenant of God through Jesus. We’re being observed and visited by innumerable angels in festive garments. We’re coming to a portion of the City of God to celebrate, worship, and marvel at our Great God and Savior for inviting us into His family (though it’s imperfect and incomplete here). See Hebrews 12:18-29.
So, when you feel ‘church fatigue,’ maybe set it aside and step back to ask yourself: Is this a problem with the people (yourself and them) or with the Church? And if it’s with the people, is it because God has now called you to represent Him to be eager to maintain the bond of people by the Spirit by putting on forgiveness, humility, and gentleness? Maybe take a moment to ask yourself…what does this church represent? Who does is represent? Why are we gathering? And then remember, church fatigue is probably just sin fatigue…
To stir your souls on the gathering of the church, listen to this sermon by my friend, Jon Payne. It will lift your attention to what matters when we gather: https://sovereigngrace.com/resource/session-5-the-glory-of-our-gathering/.
After thinking on this…I can’t wait to be at church on Sunday.
Looking Ahead
This week, we will look at the command to speak the truth in love to one another from Ephesians 4:11-16. There’s a ton of talk about ‘just being honest with one another,’ but I wonder how much of that is really done in love.
Cheap Seats
- First thing…can you hear that?? “Pitchers and Catchers Report” is one of the best phrases in the English language. I’m writing this on Tuesday as the Texas Rangers pitchers and catchers show up in Surprise, Arizona, for Spring Training. And…College Baseball begins this week.
- Second thing…that Seattle defense. Wow. Mike Macdonald is a defensive genius. When they hired him a couple of years ago, they had a vision for building a defense to stop the Rams and the 49ers. They did it. I’ve seen a lot of Super Bowls, and I know folks thought this was boring. But next to the Ravens defense in Super Bowl XXXV in 2001, this might’ve been one of the best defensive game plans that I’ve seen.
- Finally, Hall of Fame…I agree that Andruw Jones should be in the Hall. Here’s a clip that I agree with: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTxf1XMiNp2/?igsh=MWZtYjV5dnVzZHh1bQ==. NFL Hall: How does Belichick not get in? Why is Darren Woodsen not in? For those of you who don’t know (or don’t care), Belichick is the greatest coach of all time. Darren Woodsen redefined the safety position long before the safeties already in the Hall. It’s baffling to me.
Christ is King!
In Christ,
Dave York
