"But ours is different"

Thanks to Terry at Pruitt Communications for introducing me to The Ancient Christian Faith blog, where William L. Kampsen begins a recent post like this:

It has become an unending source of bewilderment for me to see how many people admit to the un-edifying instruction coming from ‘other’ churches, but respond quickly with, “But ours is different.” Yet when you visit their church you are greeted with the same spiritless pabulum. So, what was the difference? I suggest that the answer is ‘Them’. What we really have found in these cases is not the good or bad preacher, but the tendency of people to acquiesce to a sullen mediocrity for fear of futility in the hunt for quality. Tragically, the result of such a decision to acquiesce often means the cessation of their Christian growth, an unconvincing witness to the community, the possible loss of their children to secularity or even to another religion, or worse, the irrecoverable fall into life among the church’s living dead never again to hear the word ‘Arise!’ The thought that the Church just might be biblically out of step, systemically wrong, or downright deceived, rarely occurs with any conviction. Or, if it does, it does so without an anchor in hope. The result is no action taken.

Ouch--that's sharp. On the more positive side, William has begun to write about answers to the problem. His work is worth reading.