When Christians meet

I've taken on the job of thinking about what we do when we meet at 9 am every Sunday morning at church.

I've got a few ideas.

Our current format is that we start with a joke or friendly observation, end with a joke or friendly observation, have a very good sermon somewhere in the middle, and after the formal bit have morning tea.

I would like to keep everything pretty much as it is, except start with a bit of Bible, end with a bit of Bible, and reflect on all the bits inbetween. I have no problem whatsoever with friendly observations or jokes, and would like to encourage them to continue, as far as it lies in my power to do so.

Dear reader, please comment, I am away for about two weeks and will follow along with interest as I am able.

Leaving church

I posted a comment on the Pyromaniacs blog on the subject of leaving church, and I thought I'd reproduce it here. The blog suggested as a rule of thumb, "you should not leave your church." My comment:

People do leave churches for all sorts of reasons, some of them good.

So far I've been a member of many congregations over the last thirty three years [over on the Pyro blog I said ten, but I realized I missed counting a few—some were different congregations in the same church, one I checked out for six months before moving, etc.] and been encouraged by the leaders of five of them to leave. In no particular order, the reasons included

1. To go to theological college.
2. To become an assistant minister.
3. One never gave a reason.
4. At another it related to a sermon I preached on 1 Timothy 2 on women's ministry (my view is theologically complementarian).
5. At another the reason was that it would be 'good for me and good for the gospel' (in the sovereignty of God, it was. There may have been other reasons, but they were not made public).

We're blissfully happy at the church God has led our family to, and where we've been for four years now. And I'm starting to feel less paranoid about being encouraged to leave again. ;-)

My basic test for joining and staying in a church (and sometimes, for leaving) is 3-fold.

1. Is the gospel preached (including the bits people don't like to hear) with some evidence that people are attempting to put it into practice? (The faintest scintilla of response in the hearts of some will do)

2. Am I being encouraged and finding opportunity to 'speak the truth in love' (especially including the gospel, and especially including the bits people don't like to hear).

3. Would I feel comfortable inviting my non-Christian friends to come and hear the teaching?

If the answer to those 3 questions is yes, I should stay. If the answer to any of the questions is no, I should stay and work to do something about the problems until it becomes clear that what I am trying to do is undercutting or opposing what the leadership is trying to do (being invited to leave might be one indication of this).

I admit my three-pronged test is nowhere near as succinct as the rule "You should not leave your church", but I think it may potentially end up being more biblically faithful and effective for the growth of the gospel.

Not congregationalist enough!

Tony Payne speaks about how American evangelicals think we're not congregationalist enough, here in Sydney!

A biblical, Pentecostal, mega-church?

In this post I was racking my brain, trying to think of examples of really big churches in the Bible and came up with the one at Sinai in Exodus 19, 600 000 men plus women and children. In the comments, Michael K promptly suggested the Pentecostal mega-church in Acts 2. I dismissed this as being, really, a church of 12 plus a few friends, who ran a successful impromptu (pneuma-prompted?) evangelistic rally.

But I was wrong, as Acts 2:41-47 clearly shows:

41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
42   And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

By Acts 4:4 the mega-church has grown to 5000 men, plus women and children, and is described in ideal terms in Acts 4:32-35

32  Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Even in Acts 5:14 growth continues. "And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women." And Acts 6:7 says "...the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith."

This last reference is fascinating, because the growth that Luke highlights here is not so much numerical growth as growth of "the word of God".

So I am going to eat my words here, thanks to Michael's observation. I am aware of one successful megachurch in the Bible. It grows solely in response to systematic biblical exposition (the Old testament, to be precise), highlighted by Luke's editorial comment of Acts 6:7 that "the word of God continued to increase." The sermons we are aware of are all, without exception, expositions of Old Testament texts (Acts 2:14-36, Acts 3:12-24, Acts 4:8-12, Acts 4:23-31, and the longest one of all, Acts 7:2-56).

This church lasts until Acts 8:2, when it is disbanded by persecution. Nothing like it arises in the rest of the New Testament.

So I am forced to reconsider my earlier suggestion. It is possible for a church to grow to greater than 1000 and not be of the anti-Christ. Such a church will be founded only and solely on systematic exposition of the Old Testament, to which we can add the exposition of the inspired New Testament texts.

Car parking, comfortable seating, good toilet facilities, a well-run creche, a large building, and music of any sort would appear to be optional extras. Social welfare programmes are advisable.

And if God decides not to repeat the one New Testament example of a mega-church that we have in our present church experience, then our answer is to be thankful for what God has given us, keep preaching his word, and wait patiently for the mega-church that goes under the alternative name of "the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven" (Hebrews 12:23)

Large churches

All the evidence that I'm aware of suggests that individual congregations above the size of 1000 are of the antichrist. At least in Australia. I suppose in the US or Korea things may be different.

Craig Schwarze has a discussion going on about it here.

Biblically speaking, the only really large church I am aware of is the one that met at Sinai in Exodus 19—600 000 men or so plus women and children (referred to as the 'church of the Lord' in Deuteronomy 5:22). It was a very big church, although of course any mega-church leader worth their salt would scoff at such numbers today.

Be that as it may, they all without exception heard the voice of the LORD through his personally selected preacher, and all without exception died in the wilderness for their disobedience.

So I don't know if I'm being untheological here, but it's the small church for me. Anything above two hundred starts getting ridiculous.

Bible study leaders

Just had a meeting with most of the Bible study leaders of 5 o'clock church.

These guys are the absolute backbone and ribcage of the church (Christ is the head and heart!)

Thanks for all your work and may God bless and sustain you. Thanks Alan and Lynne for your repeated and ongoing hospitality.

Fast food after church

Thanks especially Chris and Paula for organizing a great pizza feed last night. Gluten free too! I don't quite know how that works with pizza, but it obviously can.

Chris had the system worked out. You order 20 pizzas before church. You advertise the presence of pizzas after church. You sign people up ($10 each thanks) after church. Then, if you need another say 5 or 10 pizzas, you phone the pizza place back and add the relevant number. That way you give the pizza people plenty of time to prepare for the pizza rush, and you still make sure that there is exactly the right number for what you are planning. $10 is pretty fine when drinks and garlic bread are included; they were good pizzas and the pizza people were happy too. Plenty of left-overs for the next congregation's supper or to take home for brekky, no-one went hungry.

Welcoming, growing, sending...

This is the slogan we use at 5.00 church at St Paul's Carlingford, inherited from somewhere or other and invented by I don't know who!

I have no idea whether it is the world's best slogan, and it's not something I spend a great deal of time thinking about. But like all slogans that actually work, it's pretty good if you explain it the right way.

You are welcomed into the church by being welcomed into relationship with God through the once-for-all sufficient sacrifice of Jesus' blood shed on the cross.

The church grows numerically as people hear about Jesus, put their trust in him and join us. People grow in the knowledge and love of God as they hear his word and as we pray for each other.

We send people into the mission field and into other churches, so that they can keep praising God for his salvation from sin and seeing people welcomed into relationship with him.

The risk and temptation is to take a slogan like the one we have, and turn it into a description of friendly activities and a good vibe, at which point we are simply a community service organization or a group that has a common hobby. I think I'm tempted to describe the church in ways that don't even mention Jesus (and you'll notice that 'welcoming, growing, sending' doesn't!). It sounds friendlier and less terrifying, and manages in one fell swoop to lose our reason for being.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, please help me to pray more!

Thank you for my family and our church. Help Gary, myself and the other people preaching today to tell the truth about you. Help us to preach Christ. Thank you also for the leaders at Munchkins, Sparks and Beagles, and that our three girls so much appreciate going and learning about you in those places. I pray that as well as the fun and games, they will see you clearly through your word. Thank you for the memory verse they keep being taught, "God keeps all his promises."

Thank you for the support group for Martin and Julie Field and the rest of the family, happening today. Please help us be good supporters. Thank you that Martin will be speaking on Zephaniah at 5.00 church for the next 3 Sundays. What a pain in the neck that their visa for Argentina hasn't come through. But how wonderful that in your grace you allow us to hear from Martin and to build our relationship with him in this way, through the teaching of your word.

Father, may your kingdom come, and your will be done. Please help me to remember to pray and act as if you are returning, because I keep forgetting. Help me to remind the family, and I pray for the people in my family and the people I know who don't know you, that they will prepare themselves for your Son's return in terrible glory. Help me to believe it too.

I'm so sick of working on my Masters, and Fiona's pretty bored of it too, so thank you that it's about to get handed in. I pray that the work I've done will be useful to someone other than just me, and remind people of the day-to-day reality of working out faith in practise.

Since it's Sunday: please bless Bruce, our rector, and his wife Rose and their whole family. Thank you for Bruce's many faithful years of gospel preaching at Carlingford, and his leadership of so many people in gospel ministry. I pray that as we hear your gospel of forgiveness, we may come to rely on it, and you, in ever increasing dependence, joy, hope and thankfulness.

Amen.

Oh, and please help me find that library book.