Warning – unpopular topic: A lot of church is boring.
Not just “I didn’t like the music” boring.
Not just “the sermon went too long” boring.
I’m talking soul-numbing, mind-wandering, when-is-lunch boring.
And people—young and old—are done pretending otherwise.
But here’s the kicker: It’s not Jesus’ fault.
Jesus is anything but boring. I mean check this out.
He turned water into wine at a party (John 2:1–11).
He walked on water (Mark 6:48–50).
He told off the religious elite and made friends with the people they hated (Luke 7:34).
He rose from the dead (Matthew 28:6).
Jesus lived the most electric, revolutionary life in history.
So why does following Him sometimes feel like sitting through a committee meeting?
Here’s the truth most churches don’t want to admit: Church is boring when it stops looking like Jesus.
The Early Church Was Anything But Dull
Read the book of Acts. The early church wasn’t a weekly religious event—it was a movement. People sold their stuff to take care of each other. Healings broke out. Prison doors swung open. Thousands came to faith in a day. They gathered daily and couldn’t get enough.
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers… And awe came upon every soul.”
— Acts 2:42–43 (ESV)
Did you see that? It’s about Awe. Not apathy.
Something has gone terribly wrong.
So What’s Making Church Boring?
- Predictable routines. Same songs. Same words or phrases sung ad nauseam Same format. Same surface-level sermons. We do the same thing the same way and often forget why we’re even doing it.
- Performance over participation. People watch, but don’t engage. When you look at it honestly, worship is mostly people observing what one dude does from an elevated platform for about an hour. That’s a performance even if we call it Divine Service.
- Safe topics. We avoid hard questions, real pain, and messy issues. So much of what is taught in churches today is vanilla at best. We tend to tow the party line or blend in with culture. That’s not the way of Jesus by the way.
- Disconnected community. You can attend for months and never be known. When all we do is sit and watch then leave for lunch, we’ve missed the whole point of what God designed worship to look like.
And while churches argue about traditions, people are walking away—because they’re starving for something real. And they’re finding it anywhere but the church!
What Do We Do About It?
It’s time to be done playing church. We need to be the church. That means making some changes:
1. Authentic Worship
No more karaoke-style singing. We want worship that invites the heart, not just the voice. So let’s choose songs with depth, passion, and space for people to connect with God—not just perform for Him.
2. Sermons That Punch
If Jesus confronted culture, challenged religious systems, and offered hope to the hopeless, our preaching should too. We don’t preach to fill 25 minutes—we preach to spark life change.
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword…”
— Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)
3. Participation Over Performance
NO more spectators. We want soldiers. We’re building teams, creating space for stories, and asking people to serve, speak, and show up.
4. Messy Conversations
Life’s not clean, so church shouldn’t pretend to be. It’s ok to talk about addiction, anxiety, doubt, divorce, and purpose—because God meets us in the middle of our mess.
5. Relentless Mission
Church shouldn’t just be a holy huddle. It’s time to get out in the community serving, giving, inviting, and loving people toward Jesus.
Your Move
If church has bored you, I get it. But don’t give up on Jesus because His people got boring. Don’t settle for stale religion when there’s a wildfire kind of faith available.
Here’s what you can do:
- Re-engage. Don’t just attend—join a team, ask questions, show up early, stay late. Try something we call worship + 2. In addition to sitting in worship, join 1 group that allows you to grow in your faith. Then jump onto 1 team to serve and live it out in real time.
- Be honest. Talk to a leader or a pastor. Tell someone what’s missing for you. What about worship feels dull? Maybe there’s a way to meet that need. Maybe there’s a ministry that can be started to move the needle a little.
- Pray dangerous prayers. Ask God to shake things up. He will. If your prayers are things you can make happen, then they’re not prayers! It’s vocalizing your wish list. Pray bold prayers. Experience bold moves of God.
- Invite someone. It’s amazing how church changes when you’re on mission, not just maintenance mode. When you invite someone to join you, you take ownership not just of the church to which you belong but the faith you say you have.
Jesus didn’t die to make church safe.
He died to make people alive.
So let’s build churches that reflect Him—bold, real, powerful, alive.
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