If I were to ask you some of the significant results of your faith in Christ Jesus and the outcome of your commitment to Church activities, I am not sure if I am prepared for all the answers. Faith in Christ has become a set of schedules or just the fact you are called a Christian. Christian life is shaped in the form of attending Church on Sunday, being part of fellowships, pay your tithes, have tea parties but what is the result of all of this?
Commenting to one of my Christian blogs that I referred to the ABC (Attendance, Building and Cash) Model through which we usually measure the success of our Church, my friend from Zambia stated how Christendom has misunderstood the true result of being a Christian today. He said, “Today’s Church is also related with three B’s as in Buildings, Banks & Bodies (as a membership of success in ministry).”. This is recognized as success and receive admiration for churches where it’s a matter of biological, generational membership rather than new converts through discipling.
Today’s Christians are excited with entertainment over results. We are carried away by the Pastor, the worship team, the musicians, the church activities, the buildings, the pulpit and the Church facility rather than expected results of the true concept of Church. We have become neither the Salt (Matt 5:13) nor the light (Matt 5:14) of the earth. Forget about becoming a little leaven (Gal 5:9), fragrance (2 Cor 2:15) dragnet (Matt 13:47-50) and many other examples the Bible refers to in terms of Christ Mission to the world.
For people who take their Mission seriously, they want big, specific outcomes... not just random ideas and inspiration. Sure, listening to your favorite Pastors, podcasts, scavenging on Google, and joining dozens of email lists is good for information. Carey Nieuwhof states, “Anyone can spit out random content and make it entertaining these days.”. It is so true in current Christendom where all is entertainment and merchandise.
So how does a true Church share the gospel, build practical skills and habits of an evangelist, being a witness, can get the results you want? If we were to analyze the top three messages of the Church this whole year, it would be 1. “Come”, “Come” and “Come”, 2. “Give”, “Give” “Give” and 3. Be part of some fellowship. People who don’t feel the connect with the Church are thrown into a guilt trip by saying that they are dishonoring the sabbath, Holy day, reverence to the Lord, holy Sanctuary and so on. We compare today’s Church to the tabernacle and Solomon’s temple to prove our point. In all of this we never feel the alarm that there are members in the Church who have not shared the gospel to even one person and surprisingly, there will be some pastors in this category. There is never a sense of remorse or shame for having violated God’s command of the Great Commission.
Jesus’ 1-12-72 Model is found in Luke 8:1; Luke 9:1; Luke 10:1, which I have brought to your attention repeatedly. Jesus being a leader kept going to villages, towns and cities to share the good news. Later, He appoints 12 as a leadership team and sent them and finally sent also 72 people (in local version 70) two by two. Now my questions are,
· Is this model happening in your Church?
· Is your pastor still practicing evangelism and sharing with the non-Christians?
· Have your Church leadership found time from managing money and facility to sharing the gospel like the 12 Disciples?
· Does the 72 (the big crowd) replicate the Church going out and sharing the gospel?
If this ‘1-12-72’ categories are not active in your church, you can count your Church as a dead church. If my Master, Christ Jesus was fully active taking the gospel to relative and friends, then what gives us the audacity to warm the pews in the Church singing Amazing Grace. Dear friends, I implore you to confess your failures for not having shared the gospel this year and make amends by sharing the same this Christmas season, which is a great initiator for gospel conversation. Information and entertainment are good, but result is what the Lord is looking for.
You may read the last blog HERE