Growing up in a traditional church environment, I see now looking back, that there are many half-truths I bought into. I have had to re-learn and un-learn many things since my wife and I decided to follow Christ's command to go everywhere and make disciples of all nations... Not necessarily because they were directly taught to me this way, but rather they are unspoken teachings endorsed by churches that are a by-product of the traditional church system so prevalent today...
1.The only valid form of church is in a special "church building."
Although the church I grew up in started on the Capitol steps of Denver in the early 70's with a bunch of radicals praying for hungry people on the street corners every night, the ultimate goal from the beginning was to get a group of faithful people into a church building all under one roof. Is it any wonder that after my church left the streets of downtown Denver and went into comfortable pews in a heated auditorium that people got comfortable and the soulwinning subsided? What is this thing about church buildings?
When did the church go from a grassroots movement with the hungry masses spreading the gospel of the kingdom from house to house and everywhere in public, to a formal institution shut out to the masses and supervised by only the spiritually elite? Church has become a business -- with a CEO, a board of directors, and a majority of disgruntled employees -- rather than a naturally growing family with spiritual parents overseeing the newer spiritual children, and Jesus calling the shots, and the Lord adding to the church daily...
This is an issue that the modern church needs to seriously reconsider.
2.Not everyone is called to win souls.
It may sound far-fetched, but this is the pattern and the mindset of many traditional churches. Even if they don't teach it, they believe that certain people have a gift for soul-winning, and that some don't. They teach soulwinning as an option rather than a divine command. You end up only doing what you are comfortable with rather than what works. You end up sitting in a church building waiting for God to "bring" souls to you, rather than "going" and making disciples everywhere!
We are all called to win souls -- some may bring forth 30 times, some 60 times, and some 100 times what they sow, but I believe that all are called to sow the word of God to the lost.
3.Revival comes by praying and waiting, praying and waiting...
Only one important thing missing: GO therefore, and be witnesses! The only reason I can think of for this doctrine coming about in the first place is that people are so uncomfortable with going out and being witnesses, that they have opted to sit back instead and make an excuse for their laziness. Pass out a few flyers, and hire a preacher, and sit back and wait for people to come... Many churches are not like this, but more often than not this is a rut that churches get into. Mine did.
4.Only a preacher can baptize people.
This is a new one for me. I never understood this, but in the early church, anyone who won a soul baptized them. Jesus said he did not come to baptize -- rather his disciples did it for him. Paul went out of his way to tell the church that he was not sent to baptize, but to preach the gospel. The common people who were spiritual mothers and fathers baptized their converts! Parents baptized their children, regular everyday saints baptized those who they had witnessed to, and those new converts also went and baptized others... Baptism was synonymous with making disciples! The "great commission" was to everyone, not just to the apostles!
This truth excites me, because it empowers everyday Christians to do what God has called them to do!
5.The church and the world is in a downward spiral and cannot be rescued... we are just along for the ride. The antichrist is already here and the church going down the tubes has already been foretold in Revelation.
Although different churches have varying viewpoints on this, I believe this is one of the biggest lies of the enemy to the church today. After all, what's the point in polishing the brass on a sinking ship?
These 5 things are not the condition of every church or every church organization, and of course there are differing doctrinal opinions on all these things, but everyone is entitled to their voice and this is mine. I just dream of being like the New Testament church in all its blood, sweat, and tears... and less like the institutionalized version I grew up in...
Perhaps you disagree, and that is okay. Thanks for listening.
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