I do not see that. Church is to praise the Lord Jesus Christ and to keep the Sabbath Day holy.I am excited to go to church every Sunday.We believe churches are dedicated public places of worship where Mormons and visitors can meet to pray, study scripture, partake of the sacrament, and continue to learn their responsibilities as children of God. The temple is literally, as it has been throughout history, the "house of the Lord" (see 1 Kings 6:1, 37).
I respect what you believe, but what I believe is that the church you are talking about be it Mormon, Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, or something else is why so many non-Christ followers who are just "kicking the tires of Christianity" looking for an answer, looking for hope, too often don't find it there. They see people dressed in their Sunday best, partaking in sacraments they don't really understand, singing hymns written in the 1600s. Its scary to a new comer, I've been there. And that is why I was drawn towards a non-denominational church, where we believe the church is not a building or a program. The church is a community of Christ followers who serve and demonstrate the love of God to this hurting world -an ACTS 13 church.
Our church did a man-on-the- street survey video taping each response, asking people on the streets of Seattle, "What do you think of when I say the word "Christians"? The answers that came back was frightening.
• Judgmental
• In your face
• Hypocrites
• Crazy
• They think they are better than everyone else
• They just want your money
• Boring
• They don't know how to have fun
• I hate them
We are to be Jesus to the World. When they see us, they should see him. And if what they see is listed above-something is wrong.
The heart of our church is spiritual transformation and we exists to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. and reaching out to those lost people who have the above impressions of us - and change it. One example of this is when we hold a Free Oil Change for single moms of the community at our church, where single moms can pull up have their oil changed, let their kids go play on the inflatables and games we have set up, while they relax and get pampered in our lounge and get served coffee and treats by Christian women, eager to talk to them.
Those mothers come back. Those mothers don't see the boring, highly sacramental church there parents use to drag them to. Those mothers have had those stereotypes erased forever. House of God? Absolutely. We still feel our Church is the House of God, and that he is in our presence.