Welcome to Love Jesus, Hate Church

Consider the following:

During the past 10 years, approximately 50 million Christians left the church. In fact, the percentage of American adults who attend religious services has dropped from 49% to less than 32%.  And more recent studies have shown that the problem of the decline in church attendance is actually getting much worse.
In addition, a recent USA Today/Gallop poll reported that almost half of all Americans appear to be alienated from any form of organized religion.
If the current trend continues, most Americans will not call themselves religious in just a few years.

Of the roughly 140 million Americans who do make their way to church on any given weekend, an amazing 74% are not engaged in their church at all.
Moreover, a study from the Barna Institute concluded that by the end of the next decade, up to 40% of all church-attending Christians will be worshipping God, serving others, studying the Bible, etc., outside of a congregational church setting.
Clearly, the data indicates that church isn’t working.

To quote a summary of the decline:

Did you ever wonder what factor is actively driving people away from church?
We know.  It’s the Love Jesus, Hate Church syndrome.

How Can You Love Jesus and Hate Church?

Some of you are probably wondering what a book titled, Love Jesus, Hate Church, is all about.  Ah, I can hear your questions now:  What's the point?  What are you trying to say?  Where are you going with this?  How can you Love Jesus and Hate Church?  Aren't they the same thing?

Hey, your concerns are understandable.
First, I understand some of you are probably already a bit put off by the title of this book— maybe even a little offended.  I’m also keenly aware of the fact that using the words Love and Jesus and Hate and Church all in the same sentence seem contradictory.
It feels sacrilegious.  Unholy.  Somehow just plain wrong.

What Do You Mean When You Say, Church?

No, I’m not talking about the true church, the “called-out ones” Scripture so proudly refers to as “men and women the world was not worthy of.”  But the church of our own creation, the church created in our own image— our own Frankenstein.  I’m talking about the man-made institution we call church.  You know, the social organization whose steepled buildings dot the landscape of our communities.  The club, the structure, the established entity we vainly try to infuse artificial life into each week with our hyped-up praise music, our social programs disguised as ministry, and the self-affirming, feel-good speeches we attempt to pass off as Spirit-empowered sermons.
Or, as those of us who “bear on our bodies the Love Jesus, Hate Church battle scars” like to call it— the Well-Oiled Machine.

What is the Purpose of Love Jesus, Hate Church?

The purpose of Love Jesus, Hate Church is not in any way to slam, malign, tear down or “dis” the church.  Nor is this book designed to simply point out the obvious faults, systemic shortcomings or the inherent hypocrisy that has plagued the institution of the church for the last millennium and a half.
No, the purpose of Love Jesus, Hate Church is actually quite the opposite.
The goal of Love Jesus, Hate Church is to present the church in the breathtaking splendor the Lord intended— as the spotless, chaste, virgin bride of Christ.  It’s to show the church, as Paul so clearly pointed out in Ephesians 3, as the eternal vessel of Christ’s glory on earth.
Consider the praise of the Apostle Paul:

The problem we face, however, is the visible church— that which we see, attend, claim membership in and have known all our lives, is a far cry from the true church revealed in Scripture.  It’s literally light years from the living entity Jesus promised the very “gates of hell will not prevail against.”  What we see masquerading as church today is, at best, a dim reflection of the Lord’s intention.  In fact, the current visible church that seems to dot every other street corner in North America is now so far removed from the example Jesus left us in Scripture, that we might never be able to divorce ourselves from our traditions, and experience the pure bride of Christ in all her fullness.
Or, to put it in the perspective of the Lord’s promise to us, we frankly may never be able to experience the abundant life He promised.  Never!  At least not within our current church structures and religious mindsets.
So what are we to do?
Good question.  But we’ve got a great answer!

Is Love Jesus, Hate Church a Book For Me?

Love Jesus, Hate Church was written with several groups of people in mind.
First, it was written as a word of encouragement to the true, sold-out, stand-alone believer in Christ— to the genuine, real deal Christian. The “called-out ones.”
It is written for those of you who will follow Him as long as you live.  For those of you who will proclaim, like the Reformers of old, “Sola Scriptura” and continually testify of His grace and mercy regardless of how the rising apathy of the church, the Well-Oiled Machine, tries to drown out your voices.
It is written to affirm those of you who have genuinely experienced, first hand, His unfathomable love, His unmerited forgiveness and His peace— the “peace that passes all understanding.”  Yep, this book was written for you.  Why?  For it’s you who must now stand and proclaim the truth about what now is and what must be.  It’s you who must weather the storm from within and without.  It’s you who... well, I don’t want to jump too far ahead at this point.
Needless to say, you know who you are.

Next, Love Jesus, Hate Church was written to those of you who are living large in the land of Laodicea, those of you who have purchased waterfront property by the sea of lukewarmness.  Those who have, as the Scripture states, a “form of godliness, but deny its power.”  Those to whom our Lord said He would vomit out of His mouth.
To you, this book will be an indictment of what church could be, and what church should be— but what is because the personal cost seemed too high.  The price for intimacy with Christ was too expensive.  Too taxing.  Not worth the effort.
It’s like saying to Jesus, “Lord, I see Your lips moving.  But all I hear is blah, blah, blah.”
To you, my prayer is that you will see yourself in these pages and fall on your face in repentance, begging our Lord for another chance to live for Him— and to die to yourself for Him.
Oh, by the way, you also know very well who you are.

And finally, Love Jesus, Hate Church was written for any Believer in Christ that desires to find a congregation that affirms, encourages, builds-up, and “stands together as one man contending for the faith.”  In other words, if you’ve ever been hurt by church or if you sometimes only go because it’s the inane “right thing to do”— boy, do we have some good news for you!
You can be different.
You can model the New Testament prototype of the church to others.
Things don’t have to stay the same!  The past doesn’t have to repeat itself.

For you, be encouraged!  Love Jesus, Hate Church is written to show you how church life can be, and will be, when we put God first and everything else second.
Are you curious?  Interested?  Good.
Then what are you waiting for?
Go ahead, take a deep breath, count to three— and jump right on in.