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The weirdest thing that happened in the church where I grew up was a prayer request that came fairly consistently from one of the less-theologically astute members of the congregation, who I’ll call Penny Martin. Penny had stringy brown hair and frumpy dresses. The lenses on her glasses were thick and smudgy. She sat right up front every Sunday so that no one was ever sure if she was rededicating her life during each altar call, or just chatting with the preacher.

The pressure of her proximity may have been why the preacher read Penny’s prayer request faithfully. The church was smaller, and still held to the method of writing prayer requests on cards and passing them to an usher to pile on the pulpit for the preacher. The minister would try his best to censor bizarre requests on the fly, but Penny’s he read straight off the card, every time, "Lord, please bless Penny Martin’s dead parakeet."

I thought about that dead bird intercession again when I began editing the ChurchCentral.com Web site in March and I discovered that every day â€” no exaggeration, every day â€” the news wires carry stories about church abuse scandals, churches struggling through homosexual issues and church financial scams.

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At first I thought, how can an institution as fallible as the church be God’s chosen instrument to impart the Good News of salvation? Those news items flop onto my desk like dead parakeet prayer requests. They don’t belong. They’re wrong or warped. Yet they are real.

But I also remember that hearing that request for a dead bird never stopped the church service. Worship continued. People joined the church. People accepted Christ. People learned more about the Bible. They brought their friends. The women soaped the communion trays and cups in hot water downstairs in the kitchen. Ministry continued. Why?

While it is disheartening to read so much about trouble in churches, it is also a reminder of why some churches work. It isn’t because they’ve weeded out their crazy people or found a perfect minister or rid themselves completely of whatever trouble they may have. There’s no such thing as a perfect church. Even in churches that come close there are problems.

Instead churches worship, fellowship, disciple, evangelize, minister and pray, because God is working through people, humans with weaknesses and flaws, people who are not very smart, or haven’t a theological clue.

Jesus knew what the church would be like even as he was laying the foundation. Maybe that’s why he had a sense of humor.

"And I tell you that you are Peter," Jesus told the disciple who would deny him repeatedly, "and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it" (Matt. 16:18). Doesn’t seem like much of a foundation in light of Peter’s subsequent betrayal. But if hell cannot prevail against the church, even with all its foibles, struggles and failings, then Christ will eventually get the last laugh.

Meanwhile, I’m hoping that my work here at Church Central contributes to the work of strengthening the church. Just because you aren’t perfect, that’s no reason to stop trying to improve. Jesus said, "Be perfect."

Our mission at Church Central is to equip leaders to grow healthier churches. So I cull from the news stories of what churches are up to, the good with the bad.

Occasionally there will be some dead parakeets. But you will continue to read about church health issues, about how churches are growing, discipling, ministering, and reaching out. And God gets all the glory for that.