The Greater Commission

Ever asked 'what is church for?' If you have you probably get the standard answer 'to save the lost.' I understand that. However, I believe the church's primary responsibility is not to save people but to BE the church. Unless the church is overflowing with the Holy Spirit's life, we risk entering our communities with just words. This brings about a minimal response from those we are encountering. We need God's power and it starts with 'church.'

I believe there are elements that make us feel like we are equipped to impact society and sometimes it works. Here and there people respond to the gospel. However, many give up over time as people simply fail to respond to the gospel message. Can it be that we are filled with other things which crowd out the Spirit's power? Even though Jesus said being a disciple is about losing your life, we see many who the church has given them profile, status and sometimes self worth. Many are filling holes of self esteem with their position in church life. I'm all for being encouraged by the body of Christ but these deeper issues are only truly found IN CHRIST.
We can only overflow with what we are filled with and for many it is 'church.' It needs to be Christ.

If we consider Paul instructed the Corinthians to meet around a meal (1 cor 11), meeting in homes not halls with open and equal sharing (1 Cor 14:26f) we can see how simple church was. When Jesus said "this do in remembrance of me" at the last supper, while he was speaking of the bread and wine, the context was a small group eating a meal with Jesus at the centre! With absolutely no instruction to have clergy, the house of God and reducing the meal to a sip of Ribena and a lump of bread, there is certainly a case for re-examining 'church and how it has become tampered with over years.

We can only overflow with what we are filled with. How we do church is CRUCIAL to being a free flowing vessel through which God can burst into society. A friend who Pastors a church told me she left a mission with an aching heart for the lost but this person is not willing to even entertain the possibility that we need to change the way we do church. Contact me if you need more on reforming church practice.