Last Sunday at Independent Bible Church

[Editorial Note: This post appeared on my other blog on 11/8/11.  I'm just moving it over here to put all posts that are a good fit for this blog in one place.]

Some time ago I recognized that it is best to go to a church service with an attitude of humility, repentance and teachability, rather than being critical about surface details.  I have more than a couple of friends who are Christians, yet strongly dislike such people as Mark Driscoll because they are too "cool" or "hip."  In that category one might also place pastor Aaron who provided the message for us last Sunday.  But I say, whatever.  If we as Christians have our focus in the right place, we ought to be less concerned about how the pastor or other church leaders appear and act, and more interested in meeting with God and learning what he as to teach us as we participate in the service.  (And again I suppose I'm saying this to remind myself as much as anyone else.)

It has been two days now since the service, so I type this to remind myself of a couple important points.  The message was about prayer, and pastor Aaron offered some commentary on the Lord's prayer.  He challenged us, asking whether we have made any changes to our prayer life following his previous sermon about prayer.  I had to say honestly, no, I haven't.  And I still haven't.  So I'll pray now that I will, now that I have reminded myself to do it.

He also said - and this was more of a passing comment - that the main reason churches split is by allowing divisiveness to grow and failing to reconcile.  This is so true, and I have seen enough of it to know there are certain churches I would not last long in without either getting kicked out or losing all my friends in the congregation.  I don't think I would at this point last long in the Reformed Presbyterian Church or Christian Reformed Church where I was raised, or the Evangelical Free Church I attended in college; all because of the divisive attitudes people have.  I am not saying there is never a time to disagree as certain issues are indeed important.  I have come to appreciate that IBC has a strong commitment to both the authority of scripture and the maintenance of healthy relationships in the church where not everyone has to agree on the finer details to get along with and befriend each other.  These factors are paramount to the health of any church body, but seem to be lacking in many of them.