Do Christians undervalue the Church?

The church is often an easy target. Taking on the people who are meant to turn the other cheek can be a profitable gig. If we’re honest, critiquing the bride of Christ can be a lazy default language for many of us, ensuring clicks and likes. And we should do it. Paul did it a lot.

But in our complaining, social media-induced state of near-constant outrage, do we sometimes sell ourselves short, leading to a crippling decrease in confidence? As in our domestic relationships where we often forget to encourage and default to criticism, social media is full of people knocking the church (often very correctly!) But without the balance of encouragement, our relationship to it might become as unhealthy as an encouragement-free relationship.

Do we sometimes forget what the body of Christ does for us? Do we undervalue the learning we glean from being part of an intentional community on a mission? And do we truly see how rare a thing that is in society? Let me explain why I’m labouring this point.