I’ve had several good conversations with a work colleague this week about Christianity, and how it should impact a life. These conversations grew out of some reflections I had talking with a friend and also from considering the experiences shared by others I have known that felt similarly: Christianity is negative.

The key complaint of many who hold this view is about what they hear from too many pulpits: God hates sin, and you are a sinner, and you need to repent. And, I have to say, sometimes this seems to be the only message preached by some ministers in some churches. Sin, evil, and the devil get all of the spotlights, and God is angry at sin, and because you are a sinner, sinning all of the time, you deserve damnation. Such a message only compounds the guilt and shame that many people already know and experience. They experience it even more because their pastor helps them to recall their failings every time he preaches. In such a church, darkness is always on the verge of snuffing out the light, love is a fragile bird in a cage, and God seems more like the devil than the devil himself- always agitated, highly reactive, never satisfied, and imminently incendiary.

As we talked about these churches and these types of messages they often offer, my colleague Dede made a great observation- that the preaching about sin and a salvation message actually belongs outside of the church, because Jesus intended the church to be where His body, joined to Him as the head, would be full of life and hope and love. Churches are not supposed to be the arena where the salvation message is repeatedly played, because churches are supposed to be the assembly place for members of His body- brothers and sisters already joined together in Christ. The gospel message is meant for proclamation in the marketplace.

Churches are supposed to be the place where light dominates darkness, love conquers hate, peace quells anxiety, faith extinguishes fear, joy thaws despondency, and hope defeats despair. Churches are supposed to be places where the broken-hearted can find help for healing, where the timid can discover courage, and where the lost can find meaning and purpose. Churches are supposed to be such a place because they are where those in Christ gather, to know Him, to be shaped by Him, and to be strengthened in Him.

I know one of the reasons many people decide to discontinue or avoid going to church is because, after giving one or another a try for some, they find little life there.

And yet, the church is where the believer old or new should find life overwhelming, if Jesus is there. “I am the life”, he stated.

I’m not a big proponent of prosperity preaching or pop psychology charading as good theology being taught from a pulpit. But I also recognize that sin-focused preaching, which talks nothing to the needs of the redeemed seeking reformation in Christ, is deadening. The church is meant to be the place as close as anywhere on earth where God’s love is taught, heard, and experienced. God wants us to have rich and full lives, which he wants to wrap us in, because he made us- in his image, with his branding.

It’s okay to expect your church to pursue positive Christianity. Technically, theologically speaking, sin, evil, the devil, and spiritual death were left outside when you first gave your life to Christ and came through those front doors of His church.

And you, too- go ahead. Drop the guilt and shame already. You can practice a positive Christianity too. Hope and joy and love and life and meaning and fulfillment were all meant for you to know as well. That’s (supposed to be) life in the church.