What is wrong with the church today?

Oh the fun of being on a church staff. People are quick to tell you what is wrong with the church. And to be honest there is a lot wrong with churches. All churches have problems. So if you think you need to change churches because of the problems, let me assure you that you will be just be leaving one set of problems for another. Point in fact - I have been monitoring discussion of two different churches with two very different sets of problems.

Of course since I am on staff at one church, there will be some people who will say that I am part of the problem at that church. I don't claim to be perfect. I don't claim to fit most people's idea of what their clergy should be. But I promise you that I am not as evil or crazy as some people seem to think. (Ok - I might be crazy. And I suppose I can be evil. But not evil and crazy at the same time.)

For some people, I have created a problem because in their minds their preacher should have penis. It will not matter what I do or don't do. It doesn't matter what I say or don't say. I simply cannot be a preacher because I female. That alone creates a controversy.

For others it is more complicated. I don't believe Halloween originated with the worship of evil. I don't appreciate e-mails with erroneous information about presidential candidates. I don't believe the war in Iraq was justified. I would dare to talk about current events of a sexual nature (teenage pregnancy, purity/promise rings) with the youth. I allow an unmarried mother to be teach children's church and be a youth counselor. So I must be evil and crazy.

Then I think some people are just unhappy, whiny-baby, complaining never-happy-about-anything idiots. And these people usually don't have the balls to tell you to your face that they have a problem with you. They just go around recruiting people to join in their whiny-baby ways. They pick apart every tiny thing you do. They criticize everyone around them. For example, a couple of months ago I had a parent tell me they had some concerns about one or two of the youth counselors, but they couldn't tell me anything specific that I could address. Since then, I have had a couple of issues with on which we did not see eye-to-eye. But she never addresses her concerns about me to my face. I have tried approaching her to deal with the issues directly, but she brushes me off. Tonight some her round the world ways of dealing with issues came up in a committee meeting and quite frankly it pissed me off. She was not even at the meeting, but by mentioning it to someone who would mention it to someone who would be the meeting, she basically accused two of my workers of stealing.

It all has to do with the honor system basket that we use for Wednesday night dinners. First, I think the person is wrong in their accusations. But even if she is right, it brings up the delicate balance - the question about whether a church should turn away someone who does not have the money to pay for dinner. At the risk of sounding like church leaders who accuse anyone who disagrees with them of being un-Christian, I must say that worrying over being $2 short on Wednesday night seems a little un-Christian.

It is obvious to me that all churches have problems. That is because churches are made of people. People are imperfect. People are selfish. People create problems.