Rebuild My Church

As many of you may know, my passion is the Church — its unity, its sanctity, its truth. I lament the state of the Church for a lot of reasons.

Here is a visual lament, beautiful and mournful: Thirty Abandoned Churches from Around the World.

Imagine vital communities gathering, celebrating, remembering, worshipping in these buildings. What spiritual parasite has destroyed these communities? Where did faith go?

I am convinced that it is impossible — apart from divine sustenance, like God-directed ravens feeding the lonely prophet in the wilderness — for most Christians to sustain faith without community. Faith is a team sport. We all go our own ways, and the dust gathers on the pews, and faith withers and fears creep in.

I’m tempted to post a few pictures of some of the will-remain-unnamed-megachurches from around the country, bursting with thousands of churchgoers watching a dry-iced band performance and a smiley-slick preacher and ask whether they are variations on the same theme of ruin, but I won’t. I’m not sure packing the pews is a sign of health, either.