There is an ambiance to every church body that reveals the health and well-being of the body. The culture is the sum total of the individual attitudes and parts--the sum of the whole being greater than the sum of the individual parts separately--church bodies are organisms working together as a team and must be cooperative, not competitive. (It's a team effort and not a one-man band!) We are not to engage in the "let's compare" game. The church has five distinct purposes or reasons for existence: corporate and public worship as a unified body in Christ in the Spirit and in truth, fellowship in the sphere and orbits of family and friends in the body including attendees, discipleship of all believers, ministry to the church body and members or congregants, evangelism, outreach and mission to the lost.
Note that we all are to be engaged in each function and not to assume the clergy has sole responsibility. A mission is our work in the world to the lost--our outreach to the world at large, making Christ known. Our ministry is to each other as we exercise our spiritual gifts in the body, everybody part being essential to healthy growth. They separate gifts in the church work for a common mission and ministry in unity and being one in the Spirit.
We don't just attend church to be social or to get a spiritual high or lift. We go to share how the Lord is working in our lives and to get a regular spiritual workout or checkup. We need to periodically examine ourselves as can be done more appropriately in the company of fellow believers. We should enjoy our church family and even feel part of it as much as our biological one. We must realize our responsibilities to the body and be faithful in attending for the sake of those that may need our ministry and we are connected with. We ought to realize that if we really belong, we will be missed when absent.
The mature believer and congregant has realized his role in the body and finds fulfillment in reaching out of his comfort zone to bring life to the church. The meeting of the church is not a social function, but it is a family and one ought to feel like when what they say, "When you're here, you're family!" We should all feel at home and free to express ourselves just like the expression WYSIWYG or what you see is what you get! We ought to feel free to be our real spiritual selves in the church and to see God at work in the sanctuary. It is everyone's job description as it were to disciple newborn believers and to make them feel at home and welcome in the body.
We don't just attend church to be social or to get a spiritual high or lift. We go to share how the Lord is working in our lives and to get a regular spiritual workout or checkup. We need to periodically examine ourselves as can be done more appropriately in the company of fellow believers. We should enjoy our church family and even feel part of it as much as our biological one. We must realize our responsibilities to the body and be faithful in attending for the sake of those that may need our ministry and we are connected with. We ought to realize that if we really belong, we will be missed when absent.
The mature believer and congregant has realized his role in the body and finds fulfillment in reaching out of his comfort zone to bring life to the church. The meeting of the church is not a social function, but it is a family and one ought to feel like when what they say, "When you're here, you're family!" We should all feel at home and free to express ourselves just like the expression WYSIWYG or what you see is what you get! We ought to feel free to be our real spiritual selves in the church and to see God at work in the sanctuary. It is everyone's job description as it were to disciple newborn believers and to make them feel at home and welcome in the body.
Fellowship is vital to the growth and there is a difference between fellowship and small talk or exchanging pleasantries and niceties. We don't go to church to talk sports or the weather--you can do this anywhere. We must realize our duty to minister and be interested in how our friends and church family are doing spiritually in life. When we minister, we may share how God is working in our lives and may have may find commonalities and opportunities to meet needs. We are all accountable to each other and must accept each other despite our personal flaws--making allowance for our faults.
Many Lone Ranger believers who are really going rogue believe they can worship God on their own and don't need to do it corporately! However, the Spirit is present in the body in a special way and we ought to contribute to the needs of the saints and do our part in the body. They may say they can worship in the cornfield, but do they? We must realize that we really do need each other and no one is an island or rock or has all the gifts so as to be able to shine his light apart from being connected.
We know we are becoming mature when we enjoy our fivefold purpose: worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and mission. We rejoice in that God considers us worthy vessels of honor and uses us for His glory. The more dependent we are on the body the more are contributing to it in a sense because we are humbled and realize the importance of each body part and we cannot stand alone spiritually no matter how gifted we are--we need each other! Who are we that God should use us for His glory; but He created us for this very purpose: to bring Himself glory through our salvation from sin and evil. It is only in the contrast and in light of evil that we behold and contemplate or apprehend the good; man has become like God in the sense that he is capable of knowing good and evil, but this is only realized in a mature believer who can discern (cf. Heb. 5:13-14).
The committed Christian has a great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission! The ultimate purpose of the body is to fulfill this and bring it to the message and Word to the world. A successful church isn't measured by its body count or membership roles, but by the spiritual health of its congregants--we don't need to worship in a crowd, but in a family that can interact and knows each other! And in conclusion, the parachurch cannot fulfill the mission statement of the church and in the final analysis, the raison d'etre (the reason for existence) of the church is to know the Lord and to make Him known to a lost world. Anything less must be seen as falling short and not measuring up to keeping the main thing the main thing. In the final analysis, the church is not a crowd, nor an organization--both of which we see many churches becoming today--but it's an interactive and growing body or organism that grows spiritually together and is interdependent and reaching out with a mission bigger than itself--without vision the people will perish says Proverbs 29:18!
The church with real soul is one obeying the marching orders of Christ expecting the Second Coming, keeping the main thing the main thing--preaching the Word, namely the gospel; which involves all five functions of the corporate body: worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and mission. We ought never to lose sight of what our mission statement is; knowing that even to have a mission statement is to have a vision of completing the Great Commission which implies that we not only know the Lord but make Him known by our public testimony and reputation to the community at large that is our common orbit.
Many Lone Ranger believers who are really going rogue believe they can worship God on their own and don't need to do it corporately! However, the Spirit is present in the body in a special way and we ought to contribute to the needs of the saints and do our part in the body. They may say they can worship in the cornfield, but do they? We must realize that we really do need each other and no one is an island or rock or has all the gifts so as to be able to shine his light apart from being connected.
We know we are becoming mature when we enjoy our fivefold purpose: worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and mission. We rejoice in that God considers us worthy vessels of honor and uses us for His glory. The more dependent we are on the body the more are contributing to it in a sense because we are humbled and realize the importance of each body part and we cannot stand alone spiritually no matter how gifted we are--we need each other! Who are we that God should use us for His glory; but He created us for this very purpose: to bring Himself glory through our salvation from sin and evil. It is only in the contrast and in light of evil that we behold and contemplate or apprehend the good; man has become like God in the sense that he is capable of knowing good and evil, but this is only realized in a mature believer who can discern (cf. Heb. 5:13-14).
The committed Christian has a great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission! The ultimate purpose of the body is to fulfill this and bring it to the message and Word to the world. A successful church isn't measured by its body count or membership roles, but by the spiritual health of its congregants--we don't need to worship in a crowd, but in a family that can interact and knows each other! And in conclusion, the parachurch cannot fulfill the mission statement of the church and in the final analysis, the raison d'etre (the reason for existence) of the church is to know the Lord and to make Him known to a lost world. Anything less must be seen as falling short and not measuring up to keeping the main thing the main thing. In the final analysis, the church is not a crowd, nor an organization--both of which we see many churches becoming today--but it's an interactive and growing body or organism that grows spiritually together and is interdependent and reaching out with a mission bigger than itself--without vision the people will perish says Proverbs 29:18!
The church with real soul is one obeying the marching orders of Christ expecting the Second Coming, keeping the main thing the main thing--preaching the Word, namely the gospel; which involves all five functions of the corporate body: worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and mission. We ought never to lose sight of what our mission statement is; knowing that even to have a mission statement is to have a vision of completing the Great Commission which implies that we not only know the Lord but make Him known by our public testimony and reputation to the community at large that is our common orbit.
It is only then that we can say we have a soul as a church--not just because the seeker likes us (stressing seeker-sensitivity or consumer-driven policy) or that we just have great preaching or music (which can be selling points but we don't want to get off track and lose focus of our vision), etc., the church must coordinate all the gifts and realize that everyone has something to contribute from a body of happy, growing, and healthy members. We must not seek to be everything to everyone or please everyone and ending up being nothing of significance to everyone, going nowhere. Soli Deo Gloria!
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