"God established the church. He set her apart and called her to be a beacon of hope to the world around her. But the church, like Israel, is also prone to wander from the path God set before her.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones captured this tragic tendency when he warned,

“The church is always to be under the Word; she must be; we must keep her there. You must not assume that because the church started correctly, she will continue so. She did not do so in the New Testament times; she has not done so since. Without being constantly reformed by the Word, the church becomes something very different.”

Many church leaders start with good desires: to share the Gospel, to study the Scriptures, to grow in spiritual maturity, and to serve those in their care. But just because a church started well doesn’t mean it will finish well. It’s far too easy to forget our origins and pattern ourselves after the world around us—worshiping the idols of power, influence, or notoriety. We are vulnerable to pride and the allure of success. When these things continue unchecked, we may find we begin to favor the strong over the weak and vulnerable, elevate and build churches as kingdoms rather than taking the posture of servants, and neglect or mistreat those God has entrusted to us."

The church is both terribly broken and remarkably beautiful, but she is still God’s plan. It can be hard to hold these two truths together at the same time, especially if your spiritual mentors, fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers have wounded you. This requires willingness and work not to throw the baby out with the bathwater but to test everything and hold on to what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). We can honor the church and those who labor for her while also being honest about their sins, weaknesses, and failings. We can forgive and make allowance for one another’s faults while also calling for repentance. We can trust what God is doing through his Church, even when skeptical about the organizations representing her. We can acknowledge and be thankful for the fruit we’ve experienced while always recognizing when weeds begin to choke it out. We can love while also choosing to leave.