This was never about church leaders specifically but the lack of family in Church life.
Frankly I think it is appalling and a travesty that some defend the impersonal setup that many churches suffer under. No wonder the church is not seen as attractive to the world.
Jesus spoke about a visible unity that healthy fellowship has and some argue we don't need it - who do we believe?
I've been going back-and-forth with the Elders at my church about the basis upon which community among believers is established and formed. A while ago, a sort of "sales job" was done on the congregation when, from the pulpit, one of the Elders tried to sell the congregation on Christian community: "You'll grow," "You'll be happier," "You'll connect," "You'll have a fuller, richer life of interactions with others," etc. Despite this effort to motivate connection via self-interest, the congregation has remained unmoved, content to meet together as strangers each Sunday morning, mostly ignoring one another the rest of the week.
Self-interest is just about the worst motive for Christian community I can think of. Appealing to a consumerist attitude in one's congregation in motivating them to interaction with one another is always going to produce correspondingly self-interested attitudes and conduct in them. You sure can't get to the Christ-centered, crucified life that is vital to healthy Christian community by way of appeals to the "What do I get out of it?" attitude. Move a bunch of folk together into community who are chiefly looking to extract from each other, to take from one another, and they soon come to realize that they can't get much of anything from the community. No one is looking to give, only to receive, and the selfish motive for community is frustrated, leading to contention, resentment, hatred and community fractures.
Really, human communities form around just about anything: sex, hobbies, sports, reading interests, political ideologies, careers, age, musical preferences, and on and on. In these communities, the self-focused Christian can serve themselves, their interests and preferences, perfectly well. Why, then, invest in the Church? What can it offer that these other communities cannot? The answer of Scripture isn't "self-esteem," or "happiness," or mere " human connection," but
Jesus Christ. He is the Foundation, the "glue," that adheres believers to one another. And he calls all of his own to a life of Self-death, of self-denial, of sacrifice for the sake of others. (
Matthew 16:24-25; John 12:24-25; Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:24; Romans 6:1-11; Colossians 3:1-3, 1 John 4:7-11, etc.)
When the Spirit of Christ (
Romans 8:9), the Holy Spirit, is drawing believers together in humble submission to himself and in loving service to one another, the Church is a powerhouse of spiritual life and work. When the Holy Spirit is in control of the individual members of a community of believers, they are able to serve one another in self-sacrificing love with joy, and persistence, and peace. The Spirit deeply unites believers to one another, His presence in each believer drawing them all together.
And so, when a community of professing Christians is cold, self-focused, and spiritually-impotent it is always because Self, not the Spirit, is in control of the community. Such a community has nothing to offer the World that is looking on. A listening ear may be found in all sorts of venues outside the Church; a convergence of likes and dislikes among people may be located in any number of places outside the Church; distractions and entertainments far exceed anything the Church can offer. The only thing the Church can offer that the World cannot is Christ.
