The Church, so what's wrong with it?

If you listen to a modern church minister you will be impressed with the size and potency of the modern church. They have powerful teaching, spirit filled worship, miracles and they have oversees and local mission programs that are changing lives and winning souls for Jesus. So, what's wrong with that? Why knock it? If it ain't broke don't fix it, right!?

A couple of posts ago I wrote about the idea that form and function go hand in hand. What we see is something akin to a large business empire that has built up, it's revenue comes from the giving of it's members, that kind of makes it a club! This business has overseers and managers who run it and organise it. It is the church of the business age. The church of the empire (the Roman Empire) clearly reflected the empire. The church of the independent nations reflected the time when Countries were forming their own independence. And now we have the church of the business age. That means that the church is following the world's trends!

So, we have a members' club that is run as a business and follows the world's trends. What is wrong with that? Businesses are about performance. And performance is the key word. The barking that goes on before the minister walks out and says, "Peace be with you all!" is reminiscent of the dressing room of a theater where the players and stage crew may be having all kinds of problems but once they walk out onto that stage the performance is maintained.

The point is it isn't meant to be a members' club, it is a kingdom, which belongs to the king. It isn't meant to follow the world's trends it is meant to follow the pattern of scripture. It isn't meant to be run as a business but as a family.

If I sit there on Sunday being preached at, rather than engaged in fellowship, the only time I can open my mouth is during the songs, I have no choice over the songs, then where is my input? I know some will be saying, "You only get out of it what you put into it!" But I'm not allowed to put anything into it!

If the church is run according to a business model then what about the employees? Is it taken for granted that every business' employees get on together, grow in love with one another, encourage one another and so on? No! There are lots of businesses whose employees are very unhappy. There are lots of churches where the congregations are very unhappy. We blame the management, but it isn't the management so much as the model. It doesn't automatically fit that if you have the right model you will be happy. I should think that there are people who wouldn't even like the Biblical picture because they might actually feel like they are expected to say something. Actually they aren't! There are plenty of times when people don't say anything. But that is their choice. At the moment we have no choice.

Is church meant to be the place of mission? Actually no! We think that if a person feels like they want to be part of the church they need a job! That's business again! The point of family is we all get to say something and when we leave we all have our jobs to go to. So an evangelist doesn't need a church to put on an outreach mission so he can preach, an evangelist is energised by the fellowship, encouraged in what he is called to do and goes out and does it. Now, if he is needing an organisation behind him then by all means set one up, but that isn't church. It is like the missionary societies today. We have those because there is more potency in a specific organisation than expecting every church to get involved in mission work. The organisations are made up of Christians from several churches, what unites them is not their geography but their calling.

How often do you walk into a church where the pastor is a bible teacher and the church is effectively a bible college, or the pastor is an evangelist and the church is effectively a mission centre? God did not set up the church to be structured to support the ministry of one man. He set it up to support the ministry of everyone. This is why we are told in 1 Corinthians 14:26, "When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification." When you come together "everyone has!" Now look at a modern translation of the same verse, notice how it has been translated to fit the way church is done, what chance has a person reading this translation got of seeing the truth?

"When you meet, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in an unknown language, while another will interpret what is said." This is the New Living Translation!

You sit in your church and one does the singing and one does the preaching and everything agrees with scripture! Only scripture has been changed to fit. What they haven't yet been able to do away with is the speaking in tongues reference!! They will have to work on that until it does actually fit most people's experiences of church! But we have moved from a situation where everyone can contribute to where there is only an expectancy of one doing it all! Now forgive me for daring to say this, but if we only serve one master and His pattern has not only been twisted out of recognition, but His word has been twisted to fit, then who do you suppose is the real author of how we do church? Who gains the most from Christians being denied the right to function as God intended? Who would make plans to orchestrate a church that is following the world's system and not God's? It isn't rocket science is it!!