This article by Darin Hufford so well sums up my feelings and experiences with this issue that I just had to repost it.
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“My wife and I made a decision about two and a half years ago that we were going to stop going to the “Institutional church”.  We did not come to this conclusion through bitterness caused by church, we simply made a decision based on things that we had seen and personally felt for years but were (until that time) unwilling to admit.  When I say “church” I am not talking about the Church Universal.  I’m talking about the institution of church that we know today.

For the most part I think “church” is a business.  In fact, many churches readily and openly admit that.  I have a difficult time believing that what we know of “church” today is at all what Christ had in mind.  It’s become a play. Worse than that; it’s become a rerun of a play.  And yet even worse, it’s become a rerun of a play, lead by hijackers.

Someone somewhere along the line got the idea of putting on a “play” for people and calling it church.   The spectators sit quietly waiting for the performance to begin. Each week they start with colorful music and someone leads them in four or five songs. Then the spectators sit down and wait for the announcements.  Once that’s finished, the spectators are encouraged to give money to the “playhouse”.   Then the spectators sit quietly and listen to a guy stand up and tell them what God is saying.

When he finishes, all the spectators file out the door, pick up their children and head for home.  On the way home they discuss the play.  How the worship team did, how the Pastor preached and so on.  Seven days later, they return and experience it all over again.

I call it a “rerun” of a play because if you have been to church for three years or more, that’s exactly what it is.

They basically quit filming new episodes, and are now playing the spectators reruns of old episodes.  It’s the same thing every week.  Perhaps this is why Christ’s ministry was only three years.

After that, He would only be repeating Himself.  Other than a new song here and there, everything else is pretty much the same.  The Pastor reminds you that “Christ took the nails for you”, and you need not to sin, and you need to read your Bible and pray, and (most importantly) you need to come to church every week and put money in the offering, and then it’s over.

Week in and week out, it’s the same thing.

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