Back home.
Plenty of things to discuss - but before that post comes this quick one.
I'm co-teaching with the pastor in big church this Sunday. It's what we little youth ministry peons like to call, "the Show".
(For those of you who don't know, "Youth Ministry" is what churches call child care for kids that aren't cute anymore.)
We're in the middle of a series on seeing the world/life/culture/whatever the way God sees it. Worldview, basically. Which I guess, no matter who you are, translates into: Seeing the world the way we see that God sees it.
Nevertheless our topic for this week is, generally, Church/Faith/Mission. There are three basic questions we are asking about the topic that perhaps you might be able to help me with.
1) What was/is God's intention for the church to begin with.Discuss. And do it in the comments so's I can see it. I'd LOVE to hear all of your thoughts, no matter how big or small.
2) What, if anything, has gone wrong.
3) Is God doing anything to restore #1?
7 comments:
There's a little book I know called "Reclaiming God's Original Intent for Church" co-written by a wonderful guy named Wes Roberts...
I could have lent you my copy...
Since you are in a wanna-be megachurch, you might find McLaren's critique helpful...where he talks about how mission and ministry aren't separate ideals (megachurch staple) but the same process of mission...
I think you absolutely must talk about reconciliation of everything to God.
1. God's intention for the church was to spread the gospel to all man kind.
2. The church has gone wrong in trying to sugar coat the gospel of Truth.
3. God is calling us back to Truth. He is doing a new thing that the older generation just does not get.
Blessings,
Leah Jones! ;)
Hey, I just followed a link on someone elses blog and was pleasantly surprised it was you.
Did you know we have 4 kids and one on the way!
Reach me at leahjones5702@sbcglobal.net, then delete this comment.
Thanks.
"Five times in the last 2,000 years the Church has to all appearances gone to the dogs. In each case it was the dogs that died." - G. K. Chesterton
I've just been mulling this over lately. I get so worn out "doing church," and I think, "How did we end up in a position where we're working ourselves to death to entertain believers?"
I'm with Leah on this one...the purpose of the church is to spread the Gospel. I know we're also meant to encourage and support one another, but only as necessary to equip one another to continue our work of spreading the good spiel (that's a Tankersly-ism for you ETBU-ers).
I don't think it could be said better than Leah's comment. The church was created as a unified body of messengers for the lost and support for its members. Man is infinitely fallible, so whenever he tries to twist the Word and put God in a box, that's when it fouls up (e.g. the Crusades, the Inquisition(s), the Puritan movement, Paul and Jan Crouch)... I think that God always had His truth there in black and white and it's always been man with pride and greed who's twisted it. Something makes me think that if God could be God and do all the stuff that we credit Him with doing, He could keep His Word intact throughout the centuries.
That's what I think.
I don't know, is that a big or a small thought?
-j
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