You sometimes hear about people wanting church that is real. The other thing people sometimes hanker after is authenticity. But what is a church that is authentically itself? What does that kind of church look like? Here are some possible things.
Free to be individuals
A church that is authentically itself will have room for all the individuals that make it up to be themselves. Nobody will be expected to wear the formally or informally prescribed uniform. Rather, everyone is free to wear what they wear simply because it is what they would wear. Similarly, everybody is free to speak in the way they would naturally speak and talk about whatever it is that happens to be their particular points of interest. In all the ways that people might express their personality, ethnicity, culture and interests, a church that is real will gladly make room for such things.
Free to be honest
A church that is authentically itself will gladly be honest. There will be a culture of honesty – that probably starts with those at the top but reaches down throughout the church – that we can make our struggles known without fear of damning judgmentalism. Being honest about our many and varied struggles – physical, mental, spiritual – is a sign of being real. A church full of people so settled and confident of their standing in Jesus and acceptance by him will be open about their struggles knowing they do not take them away from him.
But similarly, a church that is real is honest about itself. It is not a show that must go on. It is not a performance into which we are hoping to entice anyone passing by. It is a group of people, with potentially little in common save the gospel of salvation in Christ, that will inevitably have some strengths and some weaknesses simply because of a variety and makeup of the people in it. A church that is real and authentic will be quite open about such things, recognising the good and the less good, but happily knowing their shortcomings do not undo their acceptance by Jesus.
Free not to judge
Of course, the Bible says things about judging one another. It is a facile and highly selective reading of the Bible that says believers are to do no judging. Judgements will inevitable need to be made at least some of the time.
Nevertheless, a church that is real will not be too quick to judge but will rather be honest enough to recognise that each member sins, each member has their own struggles and each member – if they nevertheless love Jesus and want to obey his commands – is saved by grace and fully accepted by him. All of which means, we won’t be too quick to pronounce judgement recognising that we can all be judged. Rather our acceptance in Christ will make us willing to admit where we also struggle and that we are called to help one another walk worthy in Jesus. It is only those who have no desire to repent of sin, no desire to fight their sin, only they will be judged as not belonging to Christ. The rest are free to be real about struggles and sin and ought not to judge others knowing they are in the same boat, seeking to repent where necessary.