Jesus died for His church. The church is Christ’s bride, and the pillar and ground of the truth. Jesus will build His church. But that doesn’t mean that the church in a particular time and place can’t fall into ungodly, unbiblical behavior. The church in America is in big trouble, and much of it is her own fault. Again, it is Jesus who builds His church, but He does this work through His people. What can be done (from a human perspective) to rebuild the church? Here are seven ideas.
1. Return to biblical worship. There are different definitions of what “biblical” means, so let me tell you mine (I did not make up this view, it is the view that many Protestant Christians have held to throughout history). For worship to be biblical, our practices must come from the Bible. God has told us in His word how to worship Him. We have no right to invent new ways of worshiping God. God’s word, not our desires or emotions, should determine how we worship in the weekly gathering of the church.
One of the common (false) views concerning the Sunday morning worship service, is that how we worship is a matter of personal preference. I challenge you to find a verse where God says to His people “Worship Me in whatever way you think best, just so long as your heart is sincere.” When we begin to think that God is happy with whatever style of worship fits our personal preference, our worship services will tend to become focused on people and not God. To make older people happy we have the traditional service (with older gospel songs). For the younger crowd we have the contemporary service (with Pop/Rock music). If that doesn’t float your boat, we’ve got Cowboy churches, Biker churches, etc. When the preferences of people become the thing that drives how we worship, we have ceased worshiping God, and are now worshiping man. The only Person whose preference matters is God. We learn what God prefers by reading His word.
2. Have a correct view of the gospel. A correct understanding of the gospel will be rooted in the Bible. It seems that this would go without saying, but unfortunately, this is not always the case. If we were to compare the modern “gospel” with one that is derived from the Bible (all of the Bible), we would see some significant differences.
First, there is no such thing in the Bible as “the sinner’s prayer.” While it is highly appropriate to pray and ask God to forgive you of your sins, the modern church has taught millions of Americans (and others around the world) that if this “sinner’s prayer” is prayed with sincerity, then the one who said that prayer is now born again. Again, the Bible teaches no such thing. Salvation is a work of God, not the result of saying a prayer, even if that prayer is said with sincerity. The gospel is not: “pray this prayer and be saved.”
Second, while the Bible does teach that we have the ability to make choices, and that we must repent and believe to be saved, it also teaches that we humans don’t naturally seek after God. The Bible’s description of us before conversion is that we love our sin more than we love God. How then do we go from loving sin, to loving God? God must do a work in our hearts. We cannot change ourselves, God must do it. The gospel is not that we first come to God, and then He saves us; it is God who seeks us. If God simply offered salvation and then waited until we accepted it, He would be waiting forever because we would never naturally want to turn from our sins and turn to Him. You can’t save yourself, and neither do you assist God in saving you. The good news is that God saves those who can do nothing to save themselves.
Third, a biblical gospel is one where you are saved from your sins, not just the eternal punishment that comes as a result of your sins. In other words, if you are still loving your sins, you have not experienced true saving grace. Of course, Christians still sin, but when God saves someone, He also changes them. It is a packaged deal. We are saved through faith, not by good works. But true, saving faith is always accompanied by good works.
Fourth, in the Bible, the gospel is often referred to as “the gospel of the kingdom.” God’s kingdom, as defined by the Lord’s prayer, is where His will is done on earth. The gospel then, isn’t only about saving people’s souls, it is about God’s will (His word) being done in every area of life and society. This, of course, starts with God saving people, but it doesn’t end there. If your gospel doesn’t change families, communities, society, the laws of governments, etc., then your gospel is too small.
3. Do biblical evangelism. A biblical understanding of how a person becomes born again is going to lead to biblical methods of evangelism. Thinking that God offers salvation and then waits for us to accept that salvation, will lead to the idea that evangelism is all about persuading people to make that choice.
This is why the modern church says things like “the methods may change, but the message never does.” If the desires and tastes of people change from culture to culture, and generation to generation, then doesn’t it make sense that the way we package the gospel must change? This is what marketing is all about: how to package the product in such a way as to persuade someone to choose your product.
But evangelism is not us trying to persuade people to make a choice. The Bible describes the human condition before salvation as being spiritually dead. You can’t persuade a dead man to do anything. Only God can cause someone to be born again. Salvation is a work of God alone. But the means through which God does this work is the proclaiming of the gospel. Our innovative methods only produce fake converts. The proclaiming of the gospel, whether from the pulpit or over coffee, is what God uses to make real converts. The means through which the gospel is proclaimed may change (like with the invention of the radio, internet, etc.), but the “method” does not. The methods given in the Bible are still the methods we should be using.
4. Adult education. The most commonly referenced “Great Commission” passage is the one found in Matthew’s gospel. The focus of this commission is teaching. While the education of children is the responsibility of families, the education (discipleship) of adults is given to the church.
We tend to think that discipleship means teaching people how to pray, read their Bible, and do evangelism. While those are obviously important things, there is so much more that the Bible addresses. The modern church has abandoned the Great Commission, but the world hasn’t. Unbelieving humanity is more than happy to fulfill the Great Commission. Only they aren’t teaching the commands of Jesus, they are teaching the commands of the secular humanists. There is a Christian view of law, finances, history, government, biology, astronomy, economics, medicine, business, art, etc. There is also a humanist view of these things. Right now the humanists are doing a much better job of discipling the nations with their views. This needs to change.
5. Fellowship. The fellowship that the church is supposed to have among its members doesn’t only include eating together. The Greek word often translated “fellowship” is a word that relates to sharing or community. Christians need to share life together! While this would include Christians other than the ones you meet with on a weekly basis, it certainly should include those in your local church.
Sharing life together can be a messy business. Many are attracted to the megachurch because they can come and go without really having to get to know anyone. But the local churches we see in the Bible were more than just a group of people who saw each other once a week, they were their own community. When members of your church are having financial difficulties, do they go to the government for help, or the church (if their family is unable to help)? Instead of sending people to a godless college to study a particular subject, maybe they could find someone in their church to mentor them on that subject. This is how a community of believers should function.
Though fellowship is about more than eating together, God has ordained eating as a way to promote relationships. Having a weekly (or monthly) meal where everyone in your church can fellowship is a biblical way to strengthen relationships. Having others from your church into your home for meals or at other times is also a powerful way to build community.
6. Church government/leadership. In the Bible, the word “pastor” is another name for elder, bishop, or overseer. Often, when the Bible speaks of the leaders of a local church, it refers to those leaders in the plural (it is interesting to note that the word “pastor” is not found in most versions of the Bible. The KJV uses it once, but that is in the OT. The word “pastors,” however, is found in the NT). In the early church, congregations were lead by what is known as a “plurality of elders (pastors).” Instead of one senior pastor being the leader of a church, the biblical pattern is to have more than one pastor. The only other office in the local church is that of deacon.
The pastors of a local church do have responsibilities. These responsibilities do not include being able to tell funny stories or coming up with new marketing schemes to reach the community. The two main responsibilities of these leaders are: 1. studying God’s word so that they can teach sound doctrine and protect their congregation from heresy, and, 2. “shepherding the flock” (caring for their congregation, counseling them, etc.). In order to fulfill the last responsibility, pastors need to know those in their care. There is no way the pastor of a church with 5,000 members can do this.
7. Churches working together. While there are many drawbacks to megachurches, the one advantage they have is the amount of resources they possess. But another option is to have several smaller churches pool their resources. For example: an event (such as a conference) that is too costly for one church to fund could be supported by several churches.
Money is not the only resource that churches have. Just as God gives certain abilities and strengths to different people, He often does the same with churches. Let’s say that some in your church would like to know Greek. If no one in your church knows Greek, there might be a church down the road with someone who does.
As Christians become more and more marginalized in society, it will become more and more important for churches to get to know and work with other churches. I’m not saying that we set aside our core beliefs just to get along. But surely you can find some churches in your area that are similar enough in doctrine to be able to partner with in certain things.