Who's church is this?

Before I begin, my apologies for the lack of posts. Between preaching this past sunday, getting ready for our senior-send off banquet, and VBS, I have had about as much as I can handle lately.

Ok, now that I got that out of the way...

really, who's church is this? I know we all understand that we are supposed to say it's God's church, or Christ's church...but is that the way we really feel (or act)? In the past 2 weeks or so, I have had several conversations over meals, in the dugout, on the green, etc, where I really want to ask that question.

Allow me to summarize in one sentence what the third party in these conversations wish to communicate:

"I can do a better job than these elders."

What's worse, I'm not exactly sure what to say to those who say this to me in a very wordy way. Sometimes I let them have it....I'm not exactly sure that is what I'm supposed to do. On other occasions I ignore them...still, probably not what I need to do.

but wait, I'm not done giving details yet. Over half of the individuals who tell me they can do better than the elders are individuals who aren't involved, have dwindling attendance, and IMHO don't really posses the qualities and characteristics that elders should biblically have (Titus and 1 timothy).

Christ is the head of the church. Why don't we let HIM lead, instead of questioning those shepherding the flock. I feel like we often forget that important detail. It is not the church of the elders, the elders are simply the shepherds, looking after the flock. Something has been lost in translation. Elders aren't old people that sit in the corner of a room and say "no". They are loving individuals who care for the church.

Another thing. And to be quite honest with you, I find this absolutely hysterical. But it is quite humerous listening to people talk about the elders AS IF THEY KNOW WHAT GOES ON AT THE ELDERS/STAFF MEETINGS. I mean, honestly, it's sad but funny. Quit acting like you know. For example, don't say, "The elders are crazy for not wanting to hire this particular preacher" when in reality, they did want to...something came up and the preacher had to withdraw his resume. Don't argue a point when you don't even know all of the details. Some of the issues that members question are issues the elders have thought long and hard about, contrary to popular belief.

Our elders here at Central are very good elders. They seek God's wisdom and they spend many hours in prayer praying for the congregation (even those who question the elders!) And no, I'm not just saying this because they sign my paychecks, I'm saying this because I believe it. These men are true shepherds and will gladly help any little lonely lambs out there.

How about this for a novel idea: Let's be disciples of Christ, and let Christ lead his church in a heavenward direction. With the Church in Christ's hands, what can go wrong?

One last thought. And I'm speaking this to everybody, the faithful, the unfaithful, the old, the young. I'm even speaking this to myself. We are imperfect humans that do imperfect things. So my final thought is this...

If you find the perfect church, DON'T JOIN IT. You'll mess it up.