According to Paul, the primary function of the church is "to equip the saints for the work of ministry" (Eph 4:12). Now, that's not what most people think of when they think of church. They think of worship or, quite often, evangelism. Lots of churches include a gospel message and an "altar call." "Invite your neighbors." That kind of thing. And these things are good. But this text says it's about equipping saints. That's a bit different than your normal church.
It's interesting, because Paul lists "the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers" (Eph 4:11) as gifts God gave to the Church. Clearly "evangelist" does say that evangelism is part of the church. But some churches leave off the rest. And the equipping in view is "for building up the body of Christ." The primary idea is building up the body. That would require new converts, so evangelism is a factor, but it also involves teaching and shepherding and ... the rest. The target is the unity of the faith and "mature manhood" to the standard of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:13). This is an ongoing and essential job. And so many prefer "church lite" with little Bible and more warm feelings.
What's the issue? Why are we doing this? "So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes" (Eph 4:14). If that doesn't describe the church today, I don't know what does. The problem is "human cunning." We have winds of doctrine and "craftiness in deceitful schemes." And it doesn't take long to find them. "Name it and claim it" is still popular in some crowds. The universality of sin is questioned. The inspiration of Scripture is commonly disregarded. Human cunning and the craftiness of deceitful schemes. None of this would be a problem if the church was equipping saints toward maturity. I would hope more churches would examine this and repent.
4 comments:
Great post, as usual. While churches should absolutely be engaging in evangelism, the worship service is not the place for it. Churches should be equipping their members for evangelism (teaching apologetics) , not formatting worship services for non believers.
The purpose of the Sunday service gives me pause about inviting non-believers to church. I understand the purpose of the "worship service" to be for the building up and encouraging and teaching and admonishing of believers. While I know God can and does use that to convert, it isn't it's main purpose, and has lead to lay-people not doing their duty of making disciples, because they are now leaving that up to Sunday morning. On the one hand, yes invite unbelievers because every chance to hear the Gospel is good, but on the other, it's not FOR them.
I appreciated how you shared Paul’s teaching about the true purpose of the Church--i.e. not primarily to provide worship or evangelism opportunities but rather for equipping and building up the saints for ministry, in order to carry out Jesus’s charge in Matt. 19-20 to make disciples and teach them His commandments. I had learned this important distinction years ago and found it enlightening, as it altered my own focus and understanding and also enhanced my appreciation of “‘the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers’ (Eph 4:11) as gifts God gave to the Church.” (Elsewhere, of course, Paul elaborates on still more spiritual gifts given to members of the Body of Christ for the same Church edification work.) In His perfect wisdom, the Lord provided right from the start all that was needed to support the work and ministry of the newly established Church--ensuring the building-up of every current and future member. As you say, the forces of evil present endless challenges to this all-important work and dispense blow upon blow upon the Body, yet Jesus promises His Church will prevail and endure (Matt 16:18). We may have lost those early apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers to the ages, but we have not been left bereft--just as for those early saints, we have the enduring Word, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and gifted fellow members of the Body of Christ to help us grow and stand strong in the Lord.
I agree that it is appropriate to invite non believers to church for the reason you mentioned, yet I'm surprised that more churches don't have a service or event intended for evangelizing. I know that there are crusades and similar big events, but it seems like local churches could be doing more. For as many problems as Willow Creek had, the fact that they had two distinct services for believer and non believers seemed like a reasonably good idea.
Post a Comment