As part of helping us refocus, I'm doing a series of blogs (Church is Messy) that hopefully brings clarity to why we do what we do as a church and manages expectations as to who we ARE and who we ARE NOT.

This is important, because for some reason it's easy to adopt an idealistic view of what the church can be or is supposed to do. It seems that when we read about the early church in Scripture we gravitate towards thinking it was flawless. It wasn't. As a matter of fact, it wasn't even close.

Below is a 8 min video from the author of one of my favorite books, "Spirituality for the Rest of Us". If you get a chance to watch this, it will bring a little perspective to those moments when you or I get upset w/ something we've seen or experienced in the local church setting. Church is messy. There are times you will be offended, frustrated or in strong disagreement. There are times you'll be convinced that the church is not doing enough or has "dropped the ball" on something important. You're probably right. The church is, and always has been, flawed. Despite that reality, the local church is still the hope of the world!!!