6 Ways to Make Your Church the Worst!

If you are looking to ensure that your church experience is the worst it can be, then here are six sure-fire tips that anyone can do!

1. Sit in the same spot each week
Most of us are creatures of habit.  This can work for our benefit (creating regular times of prayer and study), but it can also be a detriment (we avoid meeting new people).  By sitting in the same spot each week we only connect with the same people and deprive ourselves of meeting others.

2. Avoid Serving at Church
Something powerful happens within us when we serve. Serving others at Church is not only a great time to meet others, but it also helps us put our faith into practice.  If you want your church experience to be the worst, then please, don't serve....!

3. Skip the Studies
Most churches have at Small Groups or classes that you can attend.  These are great opportunities to grow in your faith and to meet other people on a similar spiritual journey. Skipping the studies will help you get the least possible out of your church experience.

4. Hold onto Past Hurts
So many of us have been hurt by past church experiences. I have realized that at times I've held onto to hurts too long, thereby keeping others at a distance and preventing others from getting close enough to speak into my life. Holding onto past hurts too long can prevent us from being vulnerable with others. Great relationships at Church flourish on transparency and authenticity...

5. Judge the Motives of Others
Do this and you will be sure to have a miserable time at Church. Question the song selection, the pastor's attire, and the ill-advised tattoo on the person right in front of you... and while you are at it, know that someone is judging you as well!

6. Don't Prepare for Sunday...
My wife and I attended our church for 18 months before I came on as the associate Pastor.  Four years later I became the lead Pastor.  There were plenty of Sunday's that I came to church and thought that the sermon and the music- had nothing to say to me.  Then there were times when I knew that the pastor was speaking directly to me. When I rushed to church and when the last thing on my mind was what the message was about, then I received little from my time at Church. But when I came to church prepared, in the right mind, and excited to be there- then I received so much more out of everything. A wise woman once told me, 'Sunday Morning starts on Saturday Night.' If you want your church experience to be terrible, then don't prepare for Sunday.

How about you, what are some other ways that you can be sure and have a bad church experience?

Hurt by Church

My role as Pastor has me meeting many people. On one level this is quite humorous, at least to my wife.  While dating in College, I was not a people person, and had to be coaxed into talking to others. She reminds me how I told her mother, that all I wanted in life was to be left to myself in a room full of books...!

Now I find myself continually with others, but honestly, most of my meetings are spent listening. For whatever reason most of the stories that I have recently heard involve people being hurt by Church.

A profound sadness comes over me after hearing these stories.  Seeing the heartbreak and the pain of others -at the hands of those who should know better- is both difficult to hear and to process. Following Christ is difficult enough, but to feel sabotaged by fellow Christ-followers - often leaves us broken.

Why is this?  Does your past church experience involve heartache and difficulty?

I'm closing in on 20 years in full-time vocational ministry and have observed a few sources of pain and heartache:
-Leaders whose insecurities guide their actions
-Followers who project too much authority to their pastors
-Leadership Teams who fail to ask the tough questions
-Pastors who use their power for personal gain
-Pastors who fail to serve in ways that humble themselves
-Members who view others through the lens of their past hurts

So my plea to you is this, if you have been hurt by Church...
-Please give it another try
-Realize that your pastor and those around you often carry wounds
-Understand that the joy of a solid community can negate the pain of past hurts
-Affirm that at some point you too may have hurt another person