Church Today-Your Thoughts?

I'm wresting with this post. I just wrote 4 paragraphs and erased it all. I've decided that this post will not be about what I think - I would rather gather the input of anyone reading my blog. Im wrestling with the topic of "church". My husband and I have talked about it nearly daily lately, and it's become a topic of controversy and opinion in many ways. In a world today where relativism and mediocrity bite at us for our devotion day in and day out, what should churches and the body of Christ look like? I read an interesting article today (the link is available with the title of this entry - click to read more), and have chosen to post the following:

In a recent seminar I learned that in order to double one's Sunday School class size the teacher should avoid presenting a lesson that has too much depth. It was felt that if the lesson was too deep that new visitors would feel overwhelmed and would be less likely to return. This really bothered me. Are we to strive to water down the Word of God in order to obtain members with a shallow faith who, when faced with the trials of life, have no root to stand in adversity? I'm sure there is a place for a class devoted to seekers but I think we should all be striving to grow past the milk and obtain the more meaty substance of God's Word. What part does the seeker-sensitive service/class play in today's world?

This hit home with me. It's a topic at the center of our confusion and seemingly endless search for a church that we long to become a part of. We've run into many churches in our area that live by the seeker-sensative model, and I guess my desire is to hear your opinion, to hear your take on church. Here are a few more paragraphs of interest I read and re-read:

“The desire to be overly seeker-sensitive is pulling us away from proclaiming the hard truth of the Gospel. The Gospel is an offense! A righteous man was nailed to a cross. There was a beating involved, and blood shed. We must not water that down. We cannot compromise the reality of the Gospel under the guise of relevancy. Relevancy is earned when churches –- Christians –- acting as the hands of Christ, touch the wounded hearts and souls of those around them. When Christians act like Jesus, bear the burdens of others like Jesus, suffer with others like Jesus, then we will be more effective in verbally sharing the pointed truths of the Gospel with them like Jesus. What’s more, the lost will drink in the message like a thirsty man wandering in a desert drinks in cool, clean water.”

John MacArthur recently decried the seeker-sensitive movement as: “The push within churches across the country to make worship services more "relevant" and therefore more attractive to the world. It's the driving force behind the marketing ploys and high-tech entertainment gimmicks churches use to promote growth. As you read this, you may be asking, ‘What's so dangerous about trying to attract unbelievers to your church?’”

MacArthur goes on to call seeker-sensitivity "deadly" for churches. And he makes a compelling, if not paradoxical, argument. For if seeker-sensivitity truly buffers the church roll (and why do it if it doesn't?), why would it be dangerous?
Because the Word in all its truth is not taught, and according to 2 Corinthians 4:2, anything other is "shameful and underhanded." It also takes an important job out of the hands of believers:

“I just heard MacArthur preach this week that we too often think of church as the "place of evangelism." Instead, he taught that the church was where members gathered to worship, be taught, hear the preached Word of God, and equipped to do evangelism in the world. If every meeting of the church is turned to "seeker sensitive," I wonder-- and I mean this sincerely -- when will the saints be equipped?”
“Witnessing activities outside the church are great but the church is for Christians not for unbelievers. Unbelievers need the truth not sensitivity.”

And a few more here:

But if that ideal is geared so to equip Christians to evangelize and minister out in the world, we must honestly ask ourselves why we’re missing so many who are lost and yet seeking a spiritual path. There has to be a way to find balance: Discipleship and training for the committed. The message of salvation, the truth, and a genuine sense of love from the congregation for visitors and seekers.

For more, please feel free to read the article. I guess the biggest thing I'm looking for is answers! I know that none of you can give that to me, and I know that there's really no 1-way to lead a church. It's going to be from God alone where I get my answers. My heart just cries out for depth, for truth, and for something greater than the watered down gospel and truth I've heard recently. I also want to stop questioning why even go to church. This has been a question in my mind- why go, on sundays, if I can get deeper teaching, meat of the word, and truth of challenge in my faith that I can get meeting with someone one-on-one or in a small group? And I want to stop comparing every church to the one I know back home, the one I grew up in. It's stinkin awesome! But there's something wrong when I leave that place and I'm SO FULL FROM TRUTH AND YET LONGING FOR MORE OF GOD AND TO BE MORE IN CHRIST, and every time I've left other church attendings recently I think "I wonder what's on TV today/Which restaraunt should we choose for lunch?" Seriously! That's my struggle. If I, someone who loves the Lord and has walked with him for quite some time now, leaves church instilled with either a passion and zeal in my faith or a sense of "what's next" - how much greater the complex when someone young or new in their faith, or who doesnt know the Lord but is exploring, leaves the church every week??? We're talking about making disciples of Christ or making people who sit and listen but do nothing with their lives and crave the mediocre! So many Americans refer to themselves as "christians" but would those same people really say they love Jesus Christ?

Okay. My ranting is done. Comments, please? I'm open and I want to listen to all sides.