I have noticed over the past 5 years an increased amount of conversation has escalated about what type of people churches should 'cater' to. What the church is & isn't about. What leadership in church ministry is supposed to be. Where the church should & shouldn't take a stand in life about certain social issues.
And this list can be exhaustive & extensive....
What gets me about all of these conversations is they are the same 'type' of conversation generations of followers of God & Jesus Christ have had since the dawn of time. People change, social, political, economical circumstances change and in life the outlook of how people process what is & is not important change. Theological debates have been going on for ages about what is God's original message as well as what is the context for how God had prophets spoke and even how Jesus taught. I don't believe that God's desire is for followers of Him to spend so much time attacking each other, degrading another person's ministry or putting ourselves on a pedestal cause 'things are so right where we are at'. If we spent the same amount of time living out JUST THE GOSPELS of Jesus- what type of health, justice & eternal joy would we be bringing to this world?
Now to the core of who i am i care about the truth of God's message. To understand the heart of Jesus Christ and his original intent & message to the people then and us now. I care about my heart beating in rhythm with God's heart and I care about my faith being the centrality of who i am.
What i find very amazing is the amount of Christians who actually 'beat up' other pastors, leaders and churches because they have a pride over their church 'getting it right' or 'reaching the right kind of people'. Last i checked the gospel of Jesus message was for every living soul on the face of this earth. So lets care about the spiritually loss & confused, walk with those who have taken a step of faith and also challenge others to live out God's call.
What many people need to realize is in certain geographical & socio-economical settings people are NOT going to change how they have always lived. You need to realize this, get over it personally & stop wasting your breath worrying about it. I think it is fine if they won't move on and if you have a certain conviction in your life about what God's message and call is then you should live it out to the fullest of that conviction (just make sure it is truly in line with God's heart and not a whimsical idea you have made up so you feel better about yourself).
The great thing about life is we are not perfect, there is no perfect setting & life is going to change around us. We are a depraved souls living with divinity in our midst. God's plan & direction is much greater than any of us will ever be able to get our heads around.
"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin". (1 John 1:5-7)
What i hope is that many of us in ministry right now are seeing God move in some very powerful ways by rethinking and reevaluating what ministry is about, what this life with Jesus Christ is about as well as what type of conversation needs to be taking place in the communities around us. What we need to be careful of is not 'copy' a personality or create a false sense of church just to be different than someone else. We need to embrace our falleness, we need to put Christ first in all we do and we need to not look down on others cause of where they are at in their faith journey- they will be accountable to God just as we will be for their own walk & their ministries.
Before you continue to spout words of spiritual piety, religious zealousness and accusations of disrespect...stop and take the time you would waste & use it to further the gospel, not yourself. We are called to live in unity with each other & build each other up. Maybe more people could start actually doing that.
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