Jonathan McReynolds is calling church people out for complaining so much.

The “Make Room” singer took to Instagram to address the topic where he began by acknowledging that complaining may seem natural to a lot of people.

“Listen, I know complaining is in our DNA. As humans, we lack stuff,” he said. “As Americans, we want stuff. And blacks, well we expect not to get stuff.”

However, McReynolds takes particular issue with that fact that those complaints have made their way into church.

“Those three realities created a culture that even the church has not been able to counter,” he said. “We shout, dance, sing, but also complain.”

The singer called church folks out for their negative, complaint riddled behavior.

“We are just as spoiled, just as pessimistic, just as negative, bent on scandal, and generally unhappy with the state of things: our lives, our relationships, our local church, the pastor’s sermon, what she’s wearing, what he’s doing, our titles, our roles, everything,” his post states.

“So no church is ever good enough. No song is good enough.”

For those people, nothing–not even God motivates them to stop complaining.

“No relationship is good enough. No financial, academic, or social situation is good enough,” he said. “God isn’t even good enough to make us give up our real number one possession: our ability to complain.”

McReynolds pointed out that a lot of the music fosters those types of complaint, along with many pastors.

“Yes, pain, pressure and lack are a part of our human experience. But geez,” he said. “We all know the preacher can count on the church’s applause by asking them to basically complain. ‘Has anyone had to cry sometimes? With your back against the wall? When they walked out on you,” he shared as an example.

While the church has found people to complain with, the singer suggests bonding over those things may not be helpful.

“We found so much unity in the struggle, we seem to create new struggles just to stay connected,” he said. “Throw shade and stay connected. Roll eyes and stay connected. Complain to stay connected.”

Instead of growing through these complaints, McReynolds pointed out that people often accept their unhappy circumstances.

“I worry because all this complaining still has not kept us from accepting mediocre lives, mediocre music, and mediocre processes. The complaints aren’t aimed at solving and improving,” he said. “They may just be creating more opportunity and reason to complain. Don’t tell me you have never secretly hoped something didn’t go well just so you could complain.”

The singer publicly vowed to work on minimizing his complaints.

“I’m going to personally work on this complaining thing. This lonely, stressful…there I go..This blessed, rewarding life I have offers many opportunities to complain, but as with all of us, there is more to be grateful for,” he said before shamelessly plugging his upcoming show, “Sunday’s Best.” “Approach your new church program, your new relationship, your new job, and the new season of Sunday Best. (June 30th on BET) with optimism, expecting to enjoy it. Disappointing experiences create complaints. But a complaining spirit will create disappointing experiences.”

 

(Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images for BET)