What's happening to the church?

Since I have been a Christian, several different views of the church have been mine.

First, when I was young, my view of the church was very limited, being confined to my local congregation, though I was not an active member till later in life. I had no thought as to what was going on in the wider church scene in America, nor did I know anything about other congregations except those stories and other tidbits given by visiting evangelists (in fact, I didn't think of evangelists as pastors--though many of them were!) I did not know or care if the church was growing in America...the things I knew that were most important to me about church were: 1) Jesus is God and Savior and He needs to "save" you if you want to go to heaven 2) That one should go to church 3) That I did not believe some things that science taught (like human evolution) because of my faith in the Bible.

I knew only the basics and continued that way for years. One other aspect in which I understood the God of my church was through conscience--in effect, I was a sinner that needed to be saved and I felt in my conscience when I did evil. I also came to believe that I was not saved after I was 17 or so because of the wickedness in my life.

It is at this point that I give you my second view of the church: something of which I did not want to be part. As I said, my life spiraled into sin and my conscience screamed that I was without the love of God. I had horrible nightmares about being separated from God. In the midst of all this, I refused to go to church because I wanted to get away from it. I figured that my conscience and raising would be dulled if I could ignore the church. I never could completely ignore the church, though.

The third way I looked at the church was as a necessary evil. My wife, whom I love asked me to go with her to church as a precondition when we began dating. I grudgingly agreed, and for the first time in many a year entered the corridors of my childhood church weekly. At first, I was not accustomed to the church as I had been...in fact, I was less worried about the church itself and more worried about Teya.

Then it happened...I was called by God to repent...my forth view of the church was born...I saw the church as my brothers and sisters and a body of which I was definitey a part and to which I definitely belonged. I loved the church (and still do). Upon entering this dynamic part of my Christian life, I began to recognize the efforts of churches across America, the state of the church in America, and other broader concerns. I had come a long way from the particular, traditional, and simple, to the world-wide, the dynamic, and the more complex in my view of the church.

How do I view the church now? Stay tuned...