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Several have asked me recently about whether I think God is not going to be "with" the building churches any more, the mid-sized ones that are having the mass exodus that Barna is talking about in "Revolution". (This is because, essentially, I don't, which is a topic for another post - let's not pursue that here.)
That got me to thinking that the focus of God's people is always supposed to be on the "lost sheep", and it has gotten to the point where building church is pretty much all about the found sheep -- even when they are having revival or an evangelistic program, the majority of the ministry is still to the members, done so they will have a good time or feel good, not outwardly focused. It's on bringing unsaved people to a place where they are uncomfortable to make them do things our way. See Joel Stein's "An Atheist Tries Jesus" for a pretty horrifying example: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-stein17oct17,1,6844572.column?coll=la-opinion-columnists&ctrack=1&cset=true
Which brings us to house fellowship -- God's Spirit will only remain with us if our focus is upon the lost at our doors and among the nations. If, as Tony Dale wrote recently in his H2H newsletter, the house church just becomes the next great fad of where the Christians hang out together, we will have failed as a movement. If the questions here and at our gatherings is "how can we make sure we are safe, comfortable, happy, growing or even 'doctrinally sound'" then we will have fallen into the same trap we were in before.
My concern here is how often questions are "What about me? What about our group? What about our problems?" and to me the answer is, "It's not about you, or your group, or even about your problems. It's about sending that worker/team/family to the next village/neighborhood/nation to find the "man of peace" and about finding that sinner's hangout and telling them "the Kingdom of God is Here and Now!"
"The Church is a Sleeping Giant"... let us awaken Her!
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I agree that we should be actively seeking for opportunities to reach the lost. But aren't the gathering of the saints supposed to be geared to "the church". I see in 1 Corinthians that the point of our gatherings should be to the saints and there is a "mention" that if we behave orderly and someone who is an unbeliever or unlearned happens to come in then they will see the Lord in our midst.
1 Corinthians 14:23If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? 24But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: 25And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.
I believe scripture establishes that the ministry gifts to the church are to equip the church to do ministry:
Ephesians 4: 11And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Thus, I agree that the body of Christ must be about seeking the lost. But I do not believe the scripture teaches that our gatherings should have this focus. On the contrary, scripture seems to indicate that the focus of our gatherings should be equipping the saints to do the seeking "outside".
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I can see where both of you are coming from, brother and sister. I suppose it is where we place the emphasis. That may vary from one person to another, one day to the next.
Certainly, we need balance and spiritual equilibrium, thank you Brian.
Several months ago I heard a radio preacher who went on and on about how the "Psalms were all about God." But this is not the whole picture as we hear the Psalmist frequently relate HIS feelings and upsets. RC Sproul, the preacher, was attempting to demonstrate that some modern Christian music is too man-centered, which is true. I think he just overstated things a little. In fact, I could see how it could be argued that the Psalms serve as the origin for the genre of music known as Blues.
Your point is a valid one, LA. Most all of us are too 'me' 'my' and 'man' centered. God saved us for a Kingdom purpose - to serve others.
Jehovah to Pharaoh: "Let my people go that they may serve me."
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