“We’re looking for a church that preaches from the Bible.”

It’s a statement that pastors have heard countless times. Whether it’s from someone visiting for the first time, someone you strike up a conversation with in a social setting or a critique from someone exiting the congregation, most clergy have heard this statement.

Now, I’ve been a professional Christian for about 25 years. In those twenty-five years, I’ve yet to visit or work at a church that fails to “preach from the Bible.” I’ve yet to meet a pastor who fails to “preach from the Bible.”

In fact, even when I think back my 23 years as an amateur Christian, I can’t remember ever attending or visiting a church that failed to “preach from the Bible.”

Recently, I’ve heard a few people say they’ve had friends, colleagues and acquaintances say they are searching for a “Bible-believing, Bible-preaching” church. Again, even when throwing “Bible-believing” into the mix, I’ve yet to encounter a church or pastor that fails to pass this litmus test. I mean, even the ones who interpret the Bible in much different ways than I do firmly believe in and preach from the Bible.

When I hear this phrase, I often think of The Princess Bride, when Inigo Montoya says, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

After having the words of Montoya run through my mind, I find myself making some general assumptions about this persons theological perspective. I stereotype this person as being more conservative and more Evangelical than the average United Methodist. Again, this is a stereotype and not limited to one side of the conservative/liberal coin.

I also come to the conclusion that this person would not find what they are looking for in any of the churches I have served. Well, at least not while I’ve been part of those congregations.

What is generally meant when this comment is made is, “I’m looking for a church that will preach sermons that won’t challenge my strongly held religious and political beliefs.”

You see, when pastors preach sermons that challenge us and make us uncomfortable, we are tempted to dismiss it by saying, “that’s not really Biblical, that’s political.”

Often, what has been said by the pastor really isn’t political, but is actually Biblical. We just don’t like what it says because it just might reveal that our primary allegiance is our preferred political party, not Jesus. It’s easier to say, “The church has become too political” or “The church just isn’t preaching the Bible,” than it is to say, “I will not allow my political allegiance to be challenged by my faith.”

What we’re really saying is that we want to find a church that will allow us to remain comfortable holding whatever views we happen to hold.

So, when you hear someone say that they left a church because they didn’t preach the Bible or they were too political, don’t assume that whatever church they last attended did not preach the Bible.

Most likely that church did preach from the Bible, they just didn’t like what the Bible had to say.