We should expect the Christian church to be a community that faithfully preaches and teaches the word of God, a place where people are safe from predators and fraudsters (or where predators and fraudsters are dealt with swiftly, justly and openly when they are discovered). It should be a place that upholds Christian teaching not only in word but also in deed.
But should the church also be our social club, our finance guru, our accountability group, our sex therapist, our voter guide, our income stream, our sugar daddy, our self-help source? Ought it be the place where our deepest longings for significance and self-fulfillment are satisfied?
The church cannot be, nor should it be all — or even most — of this.
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