Redefining the Church
“He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything” (Colossians 1:18)
Several months ago a friend of mine, who puts on seminars, publicly pointed out the errors of several well known teachers who promote mystical practices. Shortly thereafter he invited me to attend a meeting with some leaders of his church to clarify his relationship with the church and determine whether his ministry was welcome there. This discussion made some important issues clear for me.
The leadership told him that his teaching did not comply with their practices. They do not practice correcting false teachers. In the course of the conversation, the leaders cited the basic mission of that church. It was a good mission and had to do with bringing people to Christ; but it did not include correcting error or false teachers. Thus my friend’s seminar is not compatible with their purposes.
As a result of the meeting I found myself pondering that situation. People often are unwelcome in churches in which they had been members for many years. What seems even strange is that the unwelcome members are not accused of sin or heresy; they are accused of not supporting the church’s mission or program. In some cases the mission and program had recently been changed and the long standing members had resisted the change. Ultimately most of these people left willingly, but with sadness of heart. Some who decided to stay and fight were eventually removed from fellowship.
What has happened that evangelical churches are willing to lose solid Christian members who have not fallen into sin or heresy? In this presentation I intend to say that these churches have changed the way they view themselves and their organizations; and that this change has led to practices and emphases that build large visible churches, but neglect and abuse Christ’s “little flock” the true body of Christ.
The Message of the Church
Jesus told his apostles what was to be the message of the church: “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” (Mt 28:20a). He did not say, “teach them those parts of my message that they think are relevant to their felt needs”! In the Luke account of the Great Commission Jesus said this: “and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from
In the new seeker paradigm churches the message is tailored to appeal to the largest possible audience. The goal is to build the visible church to be as large as it can get. Therefore, pastors lay aside those parts of the New Testament that are not deemed desirable or relevant by potential religious consumers. Evangelicals who adopt the more inspired version of creating a religious corporation do not deny any important doctrines. They just do not confess them publicly. They believe in a literal hell, they just do not preach it from the pulpit. They believe in the wrath of God against sin and the need for the blood atonement, but that is left out of the pulpit as well. Doctrine is privatized. It is relegated to a “statement of faith” on a paper or made available elsewhere in case someone actually cares about such things.
In the new paradigm churches the orthodox “statement of faith” contains truths that the pastors do not care enough about to preach to their own congregations or to sinners. However, should someone in a discernment ministry challenge them about their teaching, they trot out their boiler plate orthodoxy to deflect criticism. What they fail to realize is that the many so called mainline protestant denominations that left orthodoxy during the modernist takeover of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries kept their orthodox statements of faith intact. What is preached from the pulpit is a much better test of what is truly believed than a statement of faith.
Conclusion
Peter said this: “obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls” (1Peter 1:9). The “outcome based” corporate management churches judge their success in regard to their mission statement based on measurable outcome. The only outcome they can measure very accurately is the number of people joining the visible church. The invisible church cannot be measured because it cannot be seen. The Biblically defined church seeks to nurture and grow the invisible church through the means of grace. Though we cannot know for sure who the elect are, we know for sure what means God uses to call people to Him and sanctify them. If we faithfully provide those means, God will use them to nurture His flock which was purchased by the blood of Christ. The size of the visible church is not an important issue, but the existence and well being of the invisible one surely is.
The redefined church of the church growth movement has mostly ignored the matter of the invisible church. Like, they use the best means available at the time to make the visible church as big as possible, even if the light of the truth is so dim that it is with difficulty anyone would be saved or sanctified. If happy religious consumers living better lives than they had outside of the church is the test of validity, then these huge and rapidly growing churches must be right. However, I do not believe there is anything in the New Testament that validates seeking to maximize the visible church by means that tend to strangle the invisible one.
Consider the inspired words of Paul: “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things; for as you do this you will insure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you” (1Timothy 4:16). That is how you insure that there is a growing invisible church enrolled in heaven. Consider what Jesus told Peter: “Feed My sheep” (John 21:15-17). My Question is: Shall we obey God or shall we drink of the elixir of corporate success?
Go to the people, live with them, Serve them, Respect them, Plan with them, Start with what they know and build on what they have. (- Jimmie You, Mass Educator of
Bibliography
Bellagamba, Anthony.
Braaten E. Carl. The Apostolic Imperative. Nature and Aim of the Church’s
Samartha S.J. One Chist- Many Religions: Towadrs a Revised Christology, Orbis Books:
Stott. R.W. John. Christian Mission in the Modern World: what the church should be doing now. InterVarsity press:
Warren, Rick. The Purpose Driven Church,
Articles
- J.Jayakiran Sebastian, “Towards a Christological Missiology Today with the Guide-who-stands-Aside,” in Theology Today, Vol.62, No.1 (April 2005), pp.18-28
- O.V.Jathanna, “Life in Fullness as the Goal of Christian Mission and Ministry,” in Indian Theological Studies 39 (1) (March 2002), pp.5-14
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