The Church – The bride in all its glory
What’s Church?
Perhaps you never asked yourself that question before. But if you aren’t ready to look beyond being status quo, then I suggest you stop reading.
Some may agree that church has become a Sunday phenomenon. Others might say, a structure; a giant mirage - where an illusion has captured the hearts of millions across North America. Many of us associate the church with a nameplate. After all, we do seem to ask each other the infamous question, “…so which church do you go to?” When in fact, does it really make a difference?
I won’t try to paraphrase an interesting exercise that I recently read – but instead I’ll present it in a simple fashion.
Here it is:
“When we were in Malaysia our family had a pet dog.”
Now, I would like to ask… “What happened in your mind when you read that sentence?” More specifically, “Did you see a dog in your mind’s eye when you read the word ‘DOG’?” What happened then? Most of us would “see” a dog when we read the sentence above.
Interesting! I never gave you the details about my dog, and yet, you had a picture of a COMPLETE dog in your imagination! I would like to now ask, “Are you sure that your picture of my dog is correct?”
The readers can argue all they like about my dog. Someone might say that it is a large friendly white dog with long fur, floppy ears and a long tail. Another could say, “No, No. It is a mangy dog that is skinny.”
The fact of the matter is that they would not know unless they have either seen the dog themselves, or I (or someone else) revealed this knowledge to them!
It is no different when we say the word “Church”! When we hear this we all get a picture in our mind’s eye! Now my questions to you are:
1) “How convinced are you that your picture of Church is correct?” (i.e. as God sees it)
2) “Where did this picture come from?”(traditions, your experiences, what you were taught?)
3)”When was the last time your picture of the church was adjusted?”
The reality of it all, is that the church is about Jesus and we are His dwelling place. We are His church! And somehow, the modern day church has managed to become a watered down version of what it used to be in the New Testament. Sure – it still holds a lot of core values, but it seems to have lost the proper direction and leadership; like Mike the headless chicken running in circles for over 18 months before dying.
People that attend church now fall away from their faith in a few short years. We lack lasting impact in our societies; just look at the ungodly acts around us that get passed into constitutions. We have lost the focus of discipleship, despite being commanded (by Jesus) to go and make disciple of all nations. We seem to selfishly cling onto an individualized one-sided relationship with God. Only a few of us feel the need to serve. We lack an impact in reaching the unsaved in our communities; in spite of the era of mega-churches.
When we fail to appoint Jesus at the head of the church, as the chief cornerstone, we lose the power and purpose of the Church. When we fail to view ourselves as the temple of God, we contain the expansion of the bride.
I used to only look at churches through the eyes of my own personal experience in the Western world, however, as I travelled more and had my eyes opened - especially to truths in the scripture - I’ve come to find that we don’t meet the Biblical mandates nor follow the example Jesus set before us.
We no longer have a five-fold ministry where we practice all the gifting of the Holy Spirit into our community of believers. (Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Teacher and Pastor) Instead we’ve taken Western/Chinese theology and generated a breed of “super” pastors who do it all. We now need to be certified with a Masters of Divinity before we can preach, or teach. We need to be trained before we take our heart of evangelism out into the world. You see where I’m going with this. Etc.
We no longer push discipleship. We just walk around it, with clever sermons and neat Sunday school packages.
We no longer duplicate the church. The modern day church has stopped moving, she (the bride; the church) has become stagnant - locked into an institutionalized marriage with a bunch of rules and regulations. The church has stopped bringing more people to God. We now see another phenomenon of growing church numbers largely due to the migration between popular/slumping churches.
In the New Testament, churches were grown to further His kingdom. To build up a community of believers and establish God’s kingdom then expand again. However the birthrates of modern day churches are less than 5%. (statistically speaking) It is no longer our goal to replicate the church of God. It has become such a complex model that makes what Jesus proposed far more complicated than what he intended her to be.
Our churches have become finance driven, when the bottom-line is we can do with nothing at all, and still God would (and will) provide.
The Church has started to lose the heart of Jesus, because we pretend to know who Jesus is, without really finding it out for ourselves. We’ve let others fill in the blank for us, and lead us - instead of letting Jesus lead our life directly. When was the last time you read through the gospels or the teachings of Jesus? Or did you just opt for Paul’s commentaries on the Gospels instead?
Has your picture of church been painted by someone else?
Instead, we love clinging onto spiritual giants, soaking up their understanding of God without trying to see what God is trying to reveal to us, individually. We miss our own personal intimacy with Christ that ignites a personal ministry. This is a large reason why we don’t see a higher percentage of people in the Kingdom’s fields of harvest; and this extends into why we don’t see five-fold ministries.
Jesus did not only preach to the middle and upper caste society. He preached to all the nations, which includes the poor, the drug addicts, the diseased, the greedy, the criminals - the sinners. They are the people that need Jesus the most. Yet we are too afraid to even think about that today.
We are too comfortable with the status quo. Why has the church become a self-edifying building, that only exists once a week?
The temple was destroyed then rebuilt. Are we still living out the Old Testament church, or are we embracing the New Testament church that Jesus built? Are we embodying that church? Is it, and I dare say, organic? Growing in nature, wherever Jesus is sown.
It is my hope that the bride breathes new life into our generation so that His glory may be reflected.
mmm good point. It’s a good exercise to consider where our image of church comes from. Is it tempered in diverse experience and search of truth, or is tinted by a single bad experience and TV stereotyping, and when was it last adjusted?
The church is so much more than what it is today. One of the most powerful things, is it’s amazing ability to grow.
Within Paul’s letters we see that the Church expanded to over four countries in the middle east, probably reaching Asia. The expansion all happened in probably 10 years. If you consider how long it takes our churches to ‘plant’ another church, you’ll find out there’s got to be some other point we’re missing.
We’ve stopped replicating the church. We’ve no longer put our focus in birthing out new churches in order to expand His kingdom. And that probably has a lot to due with western/chinese theology and structure.
Just take it back down to the core, and let it be simply about Jesus.
I mean even the entire Roman empire was won over by the impact of Jesus Christ. Where is the impact in our churches today? The debates in our political races are more interested in war in Iraq then the lives of millions across North America that needs to know Christ. America - “In God we Trust” - really? do they really?
You’ve analyzed and made great comments on the modern church, many of which are very true and biblical. But here’s the more important step. Now what? What do you propose for our modern day churches? What are the practical steps we should be taking?
Many would also comment that the NT church only works in settings where Christianity is unknown (I personally do not agree). Since, North America is a totally different context where Christianity is widely known, would you still pursue an NT church?
Thanks for your input. You’ve opened up a number of perspectives that I don’t normally consider when I think about the local church.
A question that came up as I was reading this: Is it sin for a church to not have the full “fivefold” ministry as you described? It seems a little presumptuous to make Ephesians 4:11-12 the definitive list of what consists of a church.
It’s also a fallacy to finger “Western/Chinese” theology as a primary cause of evangelical stagnation. What do you mean by Western/Chinese theology? Is it the theology rediscovered by Luther out of deep struggle with the Roman Catholic church? Is it the theology fought for by Athanasius as he battled the Arian controversy?
More likely, it’s a superficial understanding of theology that causes congregations to take it for granted, leading to complacency and later, apostasy. I feel this in my own life when I intellectually agree with the truth.
I trust that you’re not denying the importance of theology or doctrine, but my primary concern lay in your accusation of Western/Chinese theology.
Thanks again!
Perhaps I overgeneralize when I say Western/Chinese theology.
And I do recognize the importance of dogma and doctrines. But there is a presence of strong head knowledge in our culture that prevents us from trusting/submitting ourselves to the Holy Spirit to do God’s work.
It is like you say, one does not live out what we know is truth. But what power do we hold in our gospel if we have no experiences with God. I feel that truly more and more people lack intimate REAL personal experiences. So that when they go out and outreach, there is no weight behind their words. There is no joy in their sharing. No overflowing love that they experience first hand from God when they serve.
A cool excerpt before I forget,
Robert Fitts, in his book The Church in the House, defines church as the following:
“The Greek word for church, ekklesia, is composed of two word: “ek” meaning “out of,” and “kalleo,” meaning “I call.” The full and simple meaning of “church” according to the original word is, “I call out from.”
Actually, ekklesia carries two concepts: being called out and being assembled together. We cannot experience church until we come together. “When two or three true born-again believers come together in His name, Jesus is in the midst. Jesus in the midst is church! It is a different experience than Jesus within. We cannot experience Jesus in the midst when we are alone. We can only experience Jesus in the midst when we are in company with others—at least one or two others.
But is it a church in the fullest sense of the word? Yes, it is a church in the fullest sense of the word. It is the basic church. You can have more than two or three and it is still a church, but it does not become “more church” because there are more than two or three. It only becomes a bigger church.”