As the pandemic wears on, there’s a part of us that will begin to call ‘normal’ things that used to feel strange. ‘Doing church’ in pajamas on the sofa may start to feel like the ultimate in Sunday morning spirituality. People who have replaced evening ministry with Netflix may find it hard to go back. Even the isolation that we all struggle with may begin to feel attractive. Meeting people can be awkward, and relationships are often messy, we’ll tell ourselves. As you feel any of those thoughts, remember why fellowship is so essential and what we miss when we don’t invest in it. Let me give four specifics.
I believe that God is in control of all things and that includes the pandemic that we’re in right now. That makes me hopeful of His good purposes for all that we’re experiencing. But there is genuine cause for concern as well. When COVID-19 first caused churches to close their doors, there was a lot of optimism and even celebration. Early on in the pandemic, Carey Nieuwhof, announced that church growth had spiked 300% in the month following the shutdown and cited research that showed that 49% of all churches were growing. Church growth soon showed itself to be little more than online church curiosity. Christians were popping around to various churches to see what everyone else was doing.
There are as many views of what the church is today as there are people. For some, the church is a historical building. For others, it’s a place the community gathers for weddings, funerals and potlucks. For others, it’s a hub of volunteer activity. Some people see it as a religious service provider where they can get their spiritual boost for the week – a little bit like a movie theatre highlighting Christians topics. But how did Jesus think about the church? You may be surprised to learn that the word, “church,” only appears three times in the gospels. But what it teaches about Jesus’ vision for the church is profound and is at odds with how we typically understand it.
One of Paul’s favourite metaphors for the church was the body of Christ. And it’s an image that’s attractive to many Christians today. It helps us remember that we’re part of something bigger. It helps us to see ourselves as the hands and feet of Jesus in our world. It helps us to understand our diversity while celebrating our unity. What’s intriguing to me is that people can enjoy the idea of being a member of the body of Christ without ever seeing the implications for becoming a member of a local church. So, I want to pose the question, “Can you be a member of the body of Christ without being a member of a local church?”
If there’s a stereotype about church, it’s of an old creaky building with an organ playing softly while people scurry about with hushed voices. There was a good reason for the stereotype. The church can be a place of meditative prayer and the serene mood creates an atmosphere for this. But that’s not the whole story. This week, I was reading about the first introduction of music to the worship of God in ancient Israel. And it changed some of my preconceptions about God, music and the worship He desires. Let me explain.
I read a doctoral thesis by George Bullard recently called, “The Life Cycle and Stages of Congregational Development,” and it compares the development of a church to various stages of human growth. It was helpful because our tendency is to just think of the church as a static entity but it’s more like a living organism that is either growing or dying. Let me explain the stages in the life-cycle of a church that Bullard presents.
Last week, I took a course in church revitalization. As the name suggests, it was about restoring to life to churches that have lost their vitality. Over four days, four pastors shared lessons and insights they had learned in leading their churches through renewal. What was so refreshing was that none of them pointed to gimmicks or novel ideas. The course focused on the fundamentals but with clear strategies on how to grow in them. Whereas 20 years ago churches were talking about shorter sermons, skits, interpretive dance and avoiding words like sin or hell, today growing churches are focused on prayer, evangelism, discipleship and glorifying God. The conversation has changed – for the better! Let me share one of their stories.
The church wasn’t born until the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. And as it was being established, it was clear that the Holy Spirit was the One building and expanding it. His presence is obvious and prominent in the biblical record. Is His presence obvious in your church? Is His presence obvious in your life? Here are four signs that you don’t think you need the Holy Spirit.
People often comment on whether they enjoyed the worship on a Sunday morning. But have you ever stopped to consider whether God enjoyed it? How would you even know whether God enjoyed it? Here are three questions to ask of your worship this Sunday.
Today's post is by guest contributor, Christian Clement-Schlimm. Because it's the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, and because of Christian's background in history, I've asked him to share what Luther might think of the Roman Catholic Church, as it exists today.
Although I grew up with Roman Catholic friends and family, it wasn’t until I began university that I started to have serious theological conversations with Roman Catholics of conviction. These would include Roman Catholic seminarians, converts from Evangelicalism to Roman Catholicism, and people who frankly knew their stuff. We would discuss the nature of the sacraments and the positions of the early church, but it would always come back to the issues of the Reformation. One hard conversation I had took place with a Roman Catholic friend who was considering which Roman Catholic monastic order to join. At the same time he was struggling with critical points raised by Protestantism. The conversation ended when he basically asked, “Why can’t Roman Catholics and Protestants just get along? We’re all serving Christ after all.” I think many people struggle at this point. They know that there are differences between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism but they’re not sure how significant those differences are. What my friend didn’t seem to realize was that our differences were at the heart of our faith. We need to get along, but that doesn’t mean pretending that we’re the same or that our differences don’t matter. Let me explain.
