Are we a Relevant Church?

This is a question many people ask these days. Perhaps you are asking that about the Church. Any church that doesn’t pursue the unbeliever is powerless and dry.

We become relevant church because when we believe in the Bible and we want to win our generation for Christ.

We are relevant because we want to have a voice among the false gods of our culture.

The city of Ephesus had a relevant church. They worshiped not in standard church buildings. They worshiped underground. They relied not on tradition but upon the Bible. And they literally turned the world upside down. The church of Ephesus- a bustling city of thousands started with a handful of Christians and 80 years later the town was distinctly Christian. Emperor worship that sought the demise of the church was obliterated.

Let’s be like the church of Ephesus. Let’s share the whole gospel of grace to our neighbors. Let’s tell the whole truth and let’s question every non-biblical element of our church and ask why we are doing it. Many churches forget the great commission- meeting in holy huddles with comfortable pews while a dying world is never contacted. The thriving church that is moving forward with the gospel. Churches like that inspire me because they get it. They understand what this whole thing is.

May we never forget Paul’s words:

For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the Gospel. For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. (1 Corinthians 9: 16-22)

I am amazed by this challenge by Paul. He's calling us to swing for the fences, to do whatever it takes to redeem this planet. It's a cooperative venture. And that's what gets me going as a pastor.

Comments

[Shamburger]

I replied to your blog on my blog...

http://pastortims.blogspot.com/2008/03/copy-cat-blog.html