Tag: church

There’s not much said in the NT about church planting. Plenty is said about proclaiming the gospel. So how did people know how to gather together in community? Reckon the saints said something about the church in their message? Something like,

“God formed a people centered in his love. He brings the followers of Christ together. The new life is lived in community, nothing like you’ve ever seen before. His people are not Jews or pagans, it’s not philosophy or pleasure-seeking, but what we’ve all been looking for. God assembles them now as they wait for the Great Assembly in heaven when the Lord returns for them.”

Reckon? The kingdom message implies a chosen people. Contrary to some who want to leave the church out of their message.

Someone wrote this sad statement yesterday, “We have no Christian friends here to call on.” The situation was one of death in the family. Having friends in Christ is a blessing in so many ways. Being part of a congregation of God’s people enriches our lives here on earth and enlivens our hope for heaven. God put us in community for our present and everlasting good. In the body of Christ we serve the saints and, in our need, are supported by them when our burdens are heavy.

Obviously, no congregation will be made perfect, except by the blood of Jesus. Still, we have to face each other’s faults and our corporate faults each time we come together.

In her free book, Worship the First-Century Way, Katheryn Haddad seeks to revive congregations by dying to self.

Some churches are in denial about their faults and need. Humility is required to confess our faults and ask God for help in our need. The church of Jesus Christ receives the weak, forgives one another repeatedly, and loves all the saints, regardless of the progress of their journey. This is not a denial of following God’s pattern, but an embracing of it.

“Life in community is no less than a necessity for us — it is an inescapable ‘must’ that determines everything we do and think. Yet it is not our good intentions or efforts that have been decisive in our choosing this way of life. Rather, we have been overwhelmed by a certainty — a certainty that has its origin and power in the Source of everything that exists. We acknowledge God as this Source. We must live in community because all life created by God exists in a communal order and works toward community.”

—Eberhard Arnold

If Christians spent HALF the time in Bible study and gospel proclamation that they devote to politics, sports, and entertainment, the church would be mature and would please God.

Six of the nine times the word church appears in Ephesians—the theme of the letter—they occur in the passage discussing the marriage relationship, chapter 5. So what does this mean?

Last night before leaving for Pedro and Karol's house, I received an email from a man in the city of Igaratá asking about the church. (The city is about 45 minutes from us.) He'd apparently found us on the internet, just as Pedro and Karol had. I read the email but didn't have time to reply right then. At Pedro's house he mentioned that he had talked that very day to a former coworker when he worked in Igaratá and recommended he look up our site. This coworker had helped Pedro rethink some religious questions. He didn't find a church he thought was biblical, so he started going to a denomination, but knew some things there were wrong. This was the same man who had sent me an email earlier in the day. So now Pedro was sharing with him the Lord's church that he had found. Pray that this man may find the truth and that the gospel may reach another city in our region of RMVale.

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