The Problem With Church

A couple of Sundays ago, I found myself visiting a local church I had never been to before.

It wasn’t a crazy, Evangelical megachurch; it was a pretty standard, mainline Protestant church. The people were incredibly welcoming, and their hospitality was genuine.

But as I settled into the pew, I couldn’t shake an unsettling feeling of being out of place.

I glanced down at my khakis and button-down shirt, suddenly aware that I was the least well-dressed person in the room. The congregation was overwhelmingly white, despite the church’s vocal commitment to diversity. And as the service progressed, I noticed they said all the right things — their theology was progressive, their politics liberal.

But when they started communion, a thought struck me: This isn’t what Jesus set out to create. This isn’t what Jesus himself did.

Jesus wasn’t surrounded by people in their Sunday best. He didn’t lead elaborate rituals in ornate buildings.

It felt like the epitome of what the great African American theologian Howard Thurman described: we were living out the religion ABOUT Jesus, instead of the religion OF Jesus.

You see, somewhere along the way, the powers that be transformed Jesus from a radical teacher of love into a divine figure to be worshiped.

But the actual Jesus never claimed to be God, nor did he instruct his followers to create a religion centered around this divine persona. That’s an invention of his later followers.

The Jesus I’ve come to know through study and prayer was a man who taught a revolutionary way of living. He called us to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. He challenged the religious and social structures of his day, not by creating new rituals, but by leading a life of radical love and inclusion.

As I reflect on that Sunday morning today, I’m reminded that our challenge isn’t to create more beautiful services or to say the right theological words.

Our challenge is to live as Jesus lived — to love fiercely, to include the marginalized, to challenge unjust systems, and to create communities where everyone truly belongs.

So, what can we do to start living the religion OF Jesus, right here, right now? Here are three practical steps you can take this week:

1. Practice radical hospitality: Invite someone you wouldn’t normally socialize with for a meal. It could be a neighbor you’ve never spoken to, a coworker from a different department, or even someone from a different faith tradition. This is 10x more powerful than traditional “Christian” communion.
2. Confront an injustice: Identify one unjust system or situation in your community and take a concrete step to address it. This could be writing to your local representative about a specific issue, volunteering at a local shelter, or speaking up against discrimination at your workplace. Or, this Saturday, you can join thousands around the country who will be protesting Israel’s ongoing genocide against Gaza that’s funded by U.S. American taxpayers.
3. Reflect on your habits: Take 5 minutes each day, before you fall asleep, to honestly examine your actions. Ask yourself, “Did I act out of love today? Did I prioritize compassion over judgment?” Use these reflections to guide your behavior and slowly reshape your habits to align with Jesus’ teachings of love.

Let’s commit ourselves to practicing the religion OF Jesus, not just talking about him. How might our communities look different if we focused less on dressing up for Sunday and more on living out love every day of the week?

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