Restarting The Church

In years past I have been critical of what the modern church has become, an embarrassment to the blood of those whom have come before us!  It is to be accursed for it only stands for selfish desires, ego stroking and all of those things from the world we are called out of as Christians.  Oh, and by the way, when I am using the word church, I am talking about everyone I have ever heard of or seen.


Perhaps you agree with me. Perhaps like many you have walked away in disgust.  Or you are now one of the many quietly sleeping in the pews because the church no longer is serving its purpose and hence, you are not either.  Have you ever thought about doing something about it?

Certainly I have thought on this a great deal, how does one, whom is nobody, kick start a dead church?  (Yes, referring to corporate Christianity here!)  How do you take people, whom know all of the words and yet none of the truth?  Christianity has died somewhere along the way.  Is it the cheap grace Dietrich Bonhoeffer feared?  Is it the affluence of our culture which has removed the need for a god?

There are only two places to start.  The first is with you - you need to discover the REAL God of this creation and it ain't you!  He is above your wisdom, above your understanding, He exists apart from you and yet places demands upon you, He expects them to be accomplished.  He gave you a book, read it, contemplate it, do it!  Start with the sin in your life.  Don't have any?   Well, look at the unforgiveness in your life - that separates you from God.  Look at your sexual resume - that also separates you from God.  You have to confess everyone of those unforgivenesses in your life to God.  You have to confess everyone of those sexual misbehavoriors to God.  Perhaps you have a problem with murder and/or hate - yeah, that also separates you from God.  Want to know more? email me.

The other place to start is with the church and for sake of this we are going to assume that those involved are already Christians.  I realize there is little hope of that but we have to start somewhere.

What is the Church?
It is a business - nope
It is a building - nope.
It is the house of God - nope.
Somewhere you go - nope.

Of course these are things the world has conformed the church to and somewhere along the way, God stopped visiting.  And a vacant powerless church meets regularly, no longer calling the lost to salvation, no longer training the next generation of believers, no longer understanding the real power to be found on His path.

The Church is a how we are to live, not as a business, not as a building, not as God's place or somewhere we go regularly.

It is the body of believers - sort of.
it is a family - sort of.

It is in fact you - you are a part the church.  You, gathered with other believers, are the Church, together we are the Body.  Consider:
Ephesians 2:19-22
Matthew 16:8
1 Peter 2:5
1 Timothy 3:14-16

The Church is not just created, it is built and we get to do the building!  And when once built, our roles do not end there.  We get to be what holds up the church, we are to add strength to the structure.  Think in terms of columns holding up a roof or the old style buttress which allowed cathedral walls to stand to great heights!

And the basis of our Church?  God, Jesus, the blood of the martyrs from antiquity through to today.  These are not nameless people, they are ones whose faith allowed them to understand that they are called to be apart from the world - even to the point of death, if that is what it takes to witness to those so opposed to the Gospel of Jesus.

(Did you note there are no guidelines here?  That means there is a requirement of faith, knowledge in the Gospel and a transparent willingness to live the faith and lead others Biblically!)