"The soul is always aching for the heart to start taking a chance by letting go... So let go."
You know what I don't like? Church bashing. That's what I don't like.
In the Church, the latest craze is for preachers to tell their congregations to get out of the church and go do something. Witness to people in your workplace, in the grocery store, wherever you are. I totally and completely agree with this. Christians are called to make disciples as we go in our lives.
Which brings me to some other new terminology that seems to be popular right now. People say that we're supposed to get out of the church building and go make disciples- not converts. Again, totally agree.
My question is, Where do they think they're going to make disciples? You can't make someone a disciple at your workplace. You can't make someone a disciple at the grocery store, or at your school. Those places are where people are witnessed to, where they hopefully come to a saving knowledge of Christ. But that's not where they get discipled. Guess where discipling happens? In the Church. Within the body of the Church. That's what the Church is-- followers of Christ coming together to grow in their faith, disciple younger believers, and have an organized effort for reaching people with the Gospel. Let me say this: the Church is necessary! Can I say that? Is that politically incorrect these days? Okay. Let me say it again.
THE CHURCH IS NECESSARY.
We are the Church. We meet together to invest in people. That's what we do. We sacrifice for each other. We take care of each other. We help each other stay on the right path and encourage one another to move beyond our limits. Some people think that we just come to a building together on Sundays and Wednesdays so that we can have fun, or maybe we come "just because". If you're meeting with the Church solely because its fun, or because you just always have-- you're there for the wrong reason. That's not why we meet.
We meet with our fellow believers every week so that we can follow God's Word, be encouraged in our faith, be under the teaching of more mature Christians, and invest in others. Do I seriously need to say this?
Acts 9:31; Acts 11:26; Acts 14:27; Acts 15:4; Acts 15:30; Acts 16:5; 1 Corinthians 12:28; 1 Corinthians 14:12; 1 Corinthians 14:19; 1 Corinthians 14:26; Ephesians 9:10-11; 1 Timothy 5:16-17; James 5:14; Revelation 2:29.
These verses speak of the churches growing in numbers-- I ask you, what's wrong with that?
These verses speak of people in the Church reporting what God has done for them. Not to every Christian in the whole world (which is the whole worldwide Church), but to a local gathering of the Church.
These verses tell us that we should use our spiritual gifts to edify the Church.
These verses speak of leaders in the Church. Not the worldwide Church, but the local gathering of believers. There is the worldwide Church, but there are also many churches (Revelation 2:29). Don't overlook this.
Churches are important and necessary.
"You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong" (Hebrews 5:12-14). Come on! Let's move past the elementary teachings here, people! I'm not saying that the elementary teachings are bad; they are very necessary to beginning a walk with Christ. But we should not stay there! If we don't grow past the elementary teachings of the Bible, it is a bad thing. "Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity" (Hebrews 6:1). We should be growing as Christians-- we should be excited to get involved with other believers and invest in their lives and have them invest in ours in return. So let's do it. We don't just randomly have events at Church for no reason! We have events so that we can invest in the people when they come. The problem comes when we have events and don't invest in the people. I honestly think that not every local gathering of the Church is like that. Are you going to tell me that every Church program is focused on numbers only, and therefore should stop? Talk about judgmental.
Yes, our mission field is out in other countries. Yes, our mission field is the whole United States. Yes, our mission field is Missouri. But our mission field is also right here in Jefferson City. Our mission field is right here in this community! And you are so right, we should definitely not just be making converts. So let's get people who have just gotten saved and don't know what to do next involved in a body of believers who are going to encourage them to grow in Christ, give them specific opportunities to serve, and love them through the mistakes they're bound to make. You know what this is? Whoa! The local meeting together of the Church. The Church is where discipling happens.
THE CHURCH IS IMPORTANT.
THE CHURCH IS NECESSARY.
I don't even know how else to say it. I don't understand how people can think that the Church is not important or necessary. Of course we're not supposed to just be making converts. Discipling is one of the major functions of the Church!
Now, in my vehemence, I'm just repeating myself.
This has all been directed in the general direction of people everywhere. Now this is directed at me, my local Church Family.
Can't we get past ourselves, please? Being involved is important-- and not for the sake of being involved. If nothing else, its important for the sake of impacting the Christians younger than us! When I'm in family group on Wednesday nights, I see these middle schoolers' faces looking up at me, figuratively and literally. What am I going to do with that? Am I going to think about others, or ignore them and just think about myself? Am I going to care about them? Am I going to sacrifice my selfish desires to invest in these youth who are swaying on the fence of following Christ? Hello! A big part of our mission field is right here! Are we just going to pass right over these people in need right here in front of us?! Seriously? You can't justify that to me. Yeah, we need to go out to foreign countries. I believe everyone should do that. But don't even think about trying to make excuses for passing over the people that we interact with every week. We need to take these opportunities while they're here to invest in the Christians around us, and to reach out to the people we meet as we go along.
God would not have established the Church if He didn't think it was necessary. We are carrying on the ministry of Christ.
Sure, sometimes we stumble and fall. We sin. We take a wrong turn every now and then. So what are you gonna do? Abolish the Church? Get serious. If you're part of the problem: change yourself. If you're doing what's right: keep on doing it, and encourage others to join you.
So help me God, if anyone bashes the Church around me again...
We are the Bride of Christ, and His ambassadors to the world. Let's stick together and act that way.
vanessa ((
The church is where these things should be happening. Unfortuantely in today's churches....yeah... Just like love and strength, society has turned the church into not a place for these things, in which people respond to with statments like "we need to get out of the church" and do these things. Since the church is just for guys to meet nice girls and people to make good friends nowadays, nobody realizes what the house of God has turned into. Back to the basics people. Fo real....
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