What a Church Should Be

More than words.

To describe this I'm beginning (surprisingly to some) with the Catholic Church.  The best thing about the Catholic Church is that its more than just words.  You won't find a more organized church doing more in the world than the Catholic Church.  And I'm sure many people would agree that if the RCC would drop the R, stop worshiping Mary and lay off some of their particular beliefs (like purgatory), then people would be joining the Catholic Church in droves.  'Why's that?' says the Protestant.  Because Protestant churches are a bunch of yappidy yap and no action.  So how does a church become more than words?

The first thing is organization and leadership
This is where we need to take a page from the Catholic playbook.  On the website of a Catholic church nearby I saw all their organization, and let me say, its amazing.  They are involved in everything from Habitat for Humanity to death penalty reform.  Their care spans all ages, both genders, and every walk of life.  The church is open every day of the week with Mass every day.  And all of this is laid out very orderly on their website.  Its very impressive, and I have to be honest, it makes the Catholic Church very attractive.  The thing to learn from this is that we as Christians can only be effective if we're working together in an organized way.  It also makes working fun.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and the pictures I saw on the local parish's website speak for themselves.  People are working and enjoying it.  Now something I must add onto organization is leadership.  Leadership really is being bossy.  If a person is in a position of leadership and has something to get done, that person really should tell people what to do (I know, it seems obvious).  I don't know how many times I've seen a quagmire of uncertainty in Protestant churches.  Leaders are too shy to simply walk up to someone and say 'do this'.  They think the lay people should just know what to do and do it all on their own.  Nope, that's not how it works, and nothing will ever get done without leaders telling people what to do.  If the person does not want to do it, then he simply says he doesn't want to do it and that's that.  Bottom line is this: far too many churches don't get anything done because the leadership is too shy and too nice.  Without doing anything those churches are worthless, and they might as well disband and tear down the building because they give Christianity a bad name.

There must be love
Love is a verb.  Its something you do, not just talk about.  A person could say they love someone, but if their actions don't show love, then they're just a liar.  We as Christians must love each other.  Isn't that clear from Scripture?  We absolutely must take care of those needing care (orphans, elderly, disabled, etc).  We should be putting people in positions where they can shine.  We should be finding jobs for anyone that needs a job (the more jobholders in the church the better).  We should be involved in disaster relief, in preventing abortions, in counseling hurting people, and so much more.  There are so many ways the Church of Christ can love each other and those nearby.  If you're looking for some ideas, I would suggest just simply looking up the webpage of a local Catholic parish; they usually do a good job of it.  I don't agree with all their beliefs, but I do love how organized and active the Catholic Church is.

Finally, I want to give some advice for anyone that's looking for a church to get involved with.  Look for two basic things: 1) Make sure their beliefs are biblical, and 2) Make sure the church is actively carrying out Jesus' command to love one another.  Make sure the church is full of action, not just words.  Everything else, specifically denomination, is not important.  Then get involved.  Be willing to do things and you'll find that being a Christian is fun and rewarding.  Jesus' words in Matthew 11:29-30 really are true: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."