Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Wrong Thinking Regarding Church Membership

This month we are focusing on the importance of Church Membership. Don't worry you read that right! Church Membership is very important. But sadly many don't understand this truth. The following list reveals where many go wrong:
  • Christians can think it's fine to attend church indefinitely without joining; 
  • Christians think of getting baptized apart from joining;  
  • Christians take the Lord's Supper without joining; 
  • Christians view the Lord's Supper as their own private, mystical experience for Christians and not as an activity for church members who are incorporated into body life together;  
  • Christians don't integrate their Monday-to-Saturday lives with the lives of other saints; 
  • Christians assume they can make a perpetual habit of being absent from the churches gathering a few Sunday's a month or more; 
  • Christians make major life decisions (moving, accepting a promotion, choosing a spouse, etc.) without considering the effects of those decisions on the family of relationships in the church or without consulting the wisdom of the church's pastor and other members; 
  • Christians buy homes or rent apartments with scant regard for how factors such as distance and cost will affect their abilities to serve their church; 
  • Christians don't realize that they are partly responsible for both the spiritual welfare and the physical livelihood of the other members of their church, even members they have not met. When one mourns, one mourns by himself. When one rejoices, one rejoices by herself. 
How important is Church Membership to you? 


Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Communicate the Gospel Plainly

Last month we focused on Evangelism (the 5th mark of a healthy church), so I wanted to spend a few blog posts encouraging us in our evangelism. I recently read through a great summary in Michael Lawrence's book Conversion.

First we must communicate the gospel PLAINLY

Someone once said, "Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words." This quote may sound good, but just because something sounds good doesn't make it true. The gospel (a.k.a. good news) needs to be spoken and spoken plainly.

There are many good and bad things that have attempted to take the place of the gospel through the centuries, but no message can replace the gospel. Lawrence writes, "The gospel isn't merely that "God loves you" or "Jesus will give you purpose." It doesn't promise a happy marriage or success at work or successful children. It may help, but it offers no guarantees. The heart of the gospel is that Jesus died and rose again as a substitute for sinners, appeasing God's just wrath and reconciling us to himself."

What this means is followers of Jesus must know the gospel message so well that we are always ready to give an answer for the hope we have (1 Peter 3:15). Let me encourage you to learn and practice PLAINLY communicating the gospel with others.