My prayer is that God allows me to serve in or support the local church for my entire life. Bottom line: I still believe in the local church. No matter what surveys say, I agree with Bill Hybels when he said:
The church is the hope of the world.
The church was strong for a long time, but as the church refused to change, it grew weaker and weaker. I was a part of some great churches that were weak. They were unwilling to keep the same message and present it in a new and fresh way. But thanks to some guys who got tired of church in the 70′s, the expression of the church began to change. Churches began to look different. However, I’m not sure the change that God wanted was complete (nor will it ever be complete).
So, what does God want? Jesus prayed this:
that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. John 17:21
The power of the church is found in togetherness – in unity . And today, more than ever before, the church is beginning to work together. Churches are crossing denominational and doctrinal lines and focusing on the Big 8 (the Big 8 are the essential beliefs – a lot of the other things get our feathers ruffled when we really don’t know the exact answer in our finite minds).
We recently stepped right in to this when our church partnered with 3 other churches to hire a pastor to serve in an area of Knoxville and coordinate ministry there. It has been an awesome experience! We all have the same goal, and by putting our resources together, we can make a greater impact than what we could do on our own.
I am absolutely stoked about the future of the Church!
great blog….what are the big 8? i have some friends that wont go to any church because of the type of bible that church uses, or they believe in “the fly away doctine”among other things….we finally got them to come to fp for sacred storm and they loved it but still wont go to discovery class to have their questions answered as to our churchs particular beliefs…..my answer to them has always been that our beliefs may not line up exactly but i dont let that get in the way of the big picture….winning others for the lord……i would love to be able to explain it with the big 8……thanks
Hey Robbie – click the link to the Big 8 – they are on the website as well at this link: http://www.faithpromise.org/beliefs-and-values Most churches have these as their core beliefs. I’ll be praying about that!
Jesus Christ is the only hope of the world. Keep in mind that the only time Jesus was harsh with his words was when he was speaking against the religious institution of his day. He had no patience for the religious institution because that is where Satan concentrates his major efforts by use of our self-righteous pride.
Certainly. I think his point is that Christ has left the Church to be His representatives to the world (Scripture says that “we are His ambassadors”). If we don’t do our job, people don’t come to know Him.
Not sure about the “harsh words.” If I understand what you are saying, I would challenge by using Paul’s influence. 1 Corinthians was written to correct practices in the church, Ephesians/Glalatians to correct doctrine, etc. Each of our churches/denominations/individual believers need correction to ensure that we are “correctly handling the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15).”
I don’t see how “the religious institution” could be such a negative thing because God is the one that created it. I agree that pride was the issue, but there is no less pride in people outside religious organizations. The religious institution isn’t the problem, it is simply a tool to impact the world. Religious leaders just live in the spotlight so they must be accountable and should strive to lead in humility. That is the sacrifice Josh describes above.
Matthew 23 :1-37 would be a good place to show why Jesus spoke against the religious institution of his day. The main point is that we must understand where Satan concentrates his efforts. The scripture also says “he disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). Who would be drawn by an angel of light other than the church. He has no need to concentrate any effort where he has already won (the world). Also, we must keep in mind that we (the church) can save none – this is the work of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 6:44). It is our place to simply serve. This is the opposite of what ends up happening in the church, we (this is me included) think we deserve some respect for what we do. In the church, the pride is self-righteous pride, which is a much worse issue than the pride of the world.