Church is Full of Hypocrites

I had an interesting conversation with a guy the other day about why he doesn't go to church more regularly. He used the old "the church is full of hypocrites" line, which I'm not always sure how to respond. Do you agree, and try to talk about the importance of grace? Or do you disagree on principle and talk about all the great things the church is doing in the world? Both are probably true. I never know what to say... but this time he threw me a softball I couldn't resist.

Here's how the conversation went:

Him: "I don't really do church... it's full of hypocrites."

Me: "Yeah, sometimes that's the perception. When is the last time you were in church?"

Him: "Christmas... or maybe Easter. We usually go to both of those, you know, for tradition's sake."

Me: "Well, that's the problem. Your only two data points are the Sundays when the church is full of a lot of other people like you."

I think he got the point. He was at church this week.