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| Nov 21st 2007 Who is the Church Service for? (Part 2) | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 4 2009, 08:09 PM (92 Views) | |
| lightninboy | May 4 2009, 08:09 PM Post #1 |
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Yesterday we looked at the two most common formats for church services. Some focus on teaching and training Christians, while others focus on reaching out to unbelieving seekers. Both have weaknesses. Teaching churches focus on training Christians, but do a relatively poor job of reaching the lost. They will often say that outreach and evangelism is the job of the individual Christian, and you will hear them say things like “Healthy sheep naturally reproduce.” But little evangelism actually takes place. And, as it turns out, though many of the believers in these churches know their Bibles well, few of them actually live out what they know in their day-to-day lives, nor are they reaching out with the gospel, which challenges the idea that these sorts of churches are actually doing a good job making disciples. So such churches fail at reaching out, and ultimately, fail at making disciples. Seeker sensitive churches try to fix this by making their church programs and services more welcoming to unbelievers. They seem to do a great job at this. They will often offer Saturday or weeknight services for the Christians to help them mature, or will encourage believers to get involved in home groups for discipleship. But in reality, few disciples are brought to maturity. Furthermore, it has become increasintly evident that although these churches do grow numerically, most of their growth is transfer growth from other churches, rather than actual evangelism growth. So unbelievers are really not being reached. Such churches fail at reaching out, and ultimately, fail at making disiciples. The problem with both models is the same: the church cannot focus primarily on training believers or primarily on reaching unbelievers. Both are needed. But even churches that try to do both are generally quite weak in one or the other. So who is the church service for - believers or unbelievers? The answer is: “Wrong question.” The correct questions are “What is the church?” and “What is the church service?” We will begin looking at those questions in the days ahead. |
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No I will not, No I will not Not go quietly | |
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| lightninboy | May 4 2009, 08:09 PM Post #2 |
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Comments: 1.Amanda on 21 Nov 2007 at 11:15 pm # I like where you’re going with this, and I agree that “Who is the church service for?” is the wrong question. The question of “What the church is?” is something that I’ve actually be studying a lot myself during the last year, and I’m looking forward to reading some of your thoughts on the issue. Many blessings ~Amanda 2.Jeremy Myers on 24 Nov 2007 at 8:45 am # Amanda, Truly, I’m a little excited to see where I’m going with this too! Ha ha. I think best when I write, and sometimes, I don’t know where I’ll end up as I’m thinking/writing my way through something. I have read some of your comments on other blogs, and read your own blog. You’ve had quite the church experience, and I appreciate what you are saying. Keep the faith! Jeremy 3.Amanda on 24 Nov 2007 at 11:43 am # Thank you Jeremy, I just hope that whatever I say and whatever I write brings glory to God and encourages others. I too think better when I write, but I then have to be careful that I don’t let my mind run away with my words and to keep my focus on the LORD, and let Him do the work through me. Otherwise I’m prone to let my emotions control my words, instead of Him. He gave me my emotions, and I don’t try to deny them or push them away, but I know that they should never control me. That’s one thing He’s been teaching me a lot lately. Thank you for the encouragement, and for the fellowship. ~Amanda |
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No I will not, No I will not Not go quietly | |
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