Who's the Church Planter?

Just for the fun of it, lets have a quiz:

The Quiz

Assess the following three scenarios, A, B, and C, in relation to how they describe a church planter.

A. You find a city with several churches, but none of them really on fire. You find that in each church, there are dissatisfied members who would like to see an on-fire ministry. You search out these Christians by either advertising a teaching seminar, a prayer meeting, or by word of mouth. They begin meeting with you regularly. Next, you organise them into various roles, such as sunday school teachers for the children, cell leaders, etc. They meet on Sunday morning, and you also have a Wednesday evening prayer meeting, and they pay tithes. You rent a meeting hall, elect a committee with a secretary and a treasurer, and register the group as a non-profit charity. And then, you link the new group with a network of churches or to a denomination...

Are you a church planter? ¨ yes ¨ no

B. You find a city with no believers in it at all, and no churches. By your witness, several people are convicted of their need for Christ and repent. You meet with them in their homes, or maybe at their place of work over lunch. You do nothing with them on Sundays at all, because you have to feed your family, and the only job you can find keeps you busy all day Sunday. You never do find a central meeting place, but only wherever it's convenient to get together. What you've started seems no more than an informal network of friends, although they are intent in going on with God.

Are you a church planter? ¨ yes ¨ no

C. You have a plan. You go to a place and share your plan. In doing so, you make statements that upset the status quo, and anger the religious leaders in that city to the point that they plot to kill you. They succeed, but you miraculously revive. You call together your followers -- those who are sold on your plan, and you tell them, 'Stay in the city until I empower you, and then go out and teach everyone all that I've taught you.' Then you leave.

Are you a church planter? ¨ yes ¨ no

The Answers

Okay, class, time is up. Exchange your paper with someone next to you, and lets mark them.

A. ¨ yes þ no -- You are not a church planter, but a people regrouper. They were already the church before you came to town. In some cases, such a ministry may be necessary (though usually not as often as we think) but you're not a church planter. Of the three scenarios, A is the least likely candidate.

B. ¨ yes þ no -- You are still not a church planter, but a disciple maker, which is as close to being a church planter as anyone ever was, including Peter, Paul, and Hudson Taylor. However, you are closer than 'A' to being a church planter -- by some peoples definitions you are -- because a local church did indeed come into being as the result of your actions.

C. þ yes ¨ no -- If this is you, then you are Jesus Christ, the only church planter who has ever lived (Matthew 16:18 ...I will build my church).

Homework

Here's your homework assignment: switch on your computer Bible and do a word search on the words 'chruch' and 'churches'. You will find that there is no mention of anyone but Jesus either planting, starting, building or establishing a church -- only making, building up and establishing disciples. Paul won converts to Jesus, and he established them in the faith, making disciples out of them. Only then does the Bible refer to the group of them as being the church. It's like they're 'the church' by default, by the fact that there are a group of them. Never is it stated by Paul or Luke that Paul ever started a church. Paul only chizzeled the building blocks, and then Jesus set them into the church.

Jesus is the only one who can be called a 'church planter'. He's the one who brought about the living organism (note: that's organism, not organisation) that we call 'the church' by planting himself as the seed. In dying, He literally planted the church.

Those, apart from Jesus who come the closest to achieving the designation of 'church planter' are those who, like Jesus, plant their lives as seeds. Many of these qualify for scenario B -- they are makers of disciples. Through their life, they make and train disciples, and then Jesus, the church builder, by His presence in their midst (Matthew 18:20 ...where two or three are gathered in my name...), makes them the church. But the fruit of pouring out their lives must be unmistakably, the image of Jesus indelibly imprinted on each of the lives of the disciples.

Jesus is the seed -- the image of Jesus is the fruit.

The world looks at the church today, and what do they see? Is it some famous personality? Is it a clever preacher? Is it an expert PR job? ...or a media job? ...or a grand institution? ...or the culturally accepted way to express ones religious inclinations? -- Or at worst, is it just a bunch of two faced hypocrites trying to play church? If it's any of these, and not the face of Jesus that they see, then we've failed to allow the Church Planter and Builder and Head to do His part in building His church.

Jesus said, 'If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself' (John 12:32). He meant, of course, being lifted up on a cross so that the world could see Him suffering the most shameful means of execution imaginable.

Paul, a true discipler after the order of scenario B, preached 'Jesus Christ and Him crucified', and expected that, and only that to be the visible expression of the church that resulted (I Corinthians 2:2)

So why do people today stay away from the church by the droves? Why are we only reaching a very limited sector of society? Why not the gay community? What about the prostitutes? Why are no one but specialised professional ministries reaching drug addicts and street children? Could it be because they look at the church and fail to see Jesus, and Him crucified?

Okay, so they hear a sermon or two about it, but is that what they see?

Many of us know there's something wrong with the church, but what can we do about it? We write articles about what's wrong, and make suggestions (that's what I'm doing isn't it!). We say this and that, and come up with this sceme or that sceme.

One of the most often taken routes to actually solving the problem is what I described in scenario 'A'. We regroup people. We try to reorganise the church by 'calling out' (ecclessia in Greek does mean 'called out' doesn't it?) the souls who are hungry for more, and putting them together in a new 'church' situation. For a time, that seems to have the same effect as gathering the glowing embers together, putting on wood, and fanning a roaring fire into being. The fact that we have a roaring fire for a time seems to confirm the rightness of the path we took -- or does it?

Too often, what we end up with is just another institution sitting side by side with the rest, but one with 'my' face attached to it, and not the face of Jesus. In one generation, it's just as dead as the rest.

So what's the answer? Is it to tear down all the old and set up the new? Is it to look for 'old wineskins' and throw them all out? (-- caution: an 'old wineskin' hunt can be as bad as a witch hunt)

Our ability to take up the cross of Jesus is the wineskin. If we're dead to self and alive to Christ, then we're a new wineskin. If we're sensitive to what others think we should do and afraid to go against the status quo, then, no matter how perfect the organisational structure we've come up with, we're old wineskins.

We are the wineskins; not the denominations, not the Catholics, nor the Baptists, nor the classical Pentecostals. There are both old and new wineskins in all of these places, as well as in Toronto and in Pensecola.

We need to recognise that we are the church, no matter how we're grouped. We don't have to organise into a club to be a church. We don't need to change the sign over the door. Jesus, the founder, already made us the church, and he makes us the local expressions of the church by His presence in our midst.

Even if ten of us, who never met before, suddenly found ourselves together on a flight from Seattle to Mandalay, and we realised that we were all Christians -- some Baptists, some Presbyterians, some Vineyard, some Mennonites, and even a Catholic or two -- if we begin to fellowship together spiritually in His name, then Jesus is in our midst, and we're a church. As soon as we land in Mandalay, each one may go his or her separate way -- one to Mandalay 1st Baptist Church, one to Mandalay 1st Presbyterian, one onto an ongoing flight to Johannesburg, one to Vancouver, etc. -- but while we were on that plane, we were the local church of Jesus Christ on that plane.

We need to realise that Jesus and only Jesus is the builder of the church, and that there is nothing we can do to correct or improve on things without total dependence on Him. We're not called to tear down structures. Jesus will do that in His own good time (Revelation 2:5 I will come to you quickly and remove your lamp stand from its place -- unless you repent). We're only called to die to ourselves and to allow Jesus to live in us; or become new wineskins ourselves, so that when the new wine is poured out, we'll be able to hold it. Then, and only then, will we be the church that will draw all men to the face of Jesus.

Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest (Matthew 9:38)

While you're at it, pray the Head of the Church to build His church into the living organism that will keep that harvest.

-- note: for a fuller scriptural foundation, see the final chapter of Culture Shock -- A World Chrisitan's Manifesto www.antioch.com.sg/th/twp/bookbyte/culture/culture12.html

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Who's The Full Time Minister?

Here's another quiz:

Assess the following situations, and whether or not they describe a "full time minister":

A. You knew from an early age that the highest calling is that of full time service to the Master. Therefore, you plan your career accordingly, even choosing your electives in secondary school that you feel would help you later in life to serve the Lord. You choose the best Bible School you can, apply for a scholarship through your denomination, and you go.

Bible School is fine, and you make it through. You sow a few wild oats on the way, and almost get expelled for getting caught in the women's dormitory, but then, that's par for the course (although if they knew who it was who ran the president's trousers up the flagpole, that would have been the end for sure!).

Once you graduate, you get serious. You're offered a pastorate of a small church in the country with about 60 members. You're faithful to that for the next five years, and they give you a pastorate of a bigger city church. Your sermons are interesting, because you know how to throw in humorous anecdotes, and wake people up when they're sleeping, and you always choose sermon topics that are relavant to the times. You're invited to speak out a lot as a result. You attend all ministerial conferences of your denomination, and soon you're elected as superintendent of your district. Hopefully, before you retire, you may spend a term or two as head of the denomination, and maybe serve as president of your Bible School (where some cheeky young student will run your trousers up the flagpole).

Are you a full time minister?

¨ yes ¨ no

B. You work at the local supermarket earning enough to keep you and your small family going. During a week of meetings at your church, where a missionary to Africa has been speaking, you dedicate your life to service to God. While on your knees at the alter, you hear His voice saying, "I have a special calling for you. Will you follow me?" You respond with a loud "YES".

Your wife is excited about it as well, but not quite as sure as you are that, "where God guides, God provides", but she's willing to give it a try. You give your boss notice, explaining that you're called to the ministry, and he shakes your hand, and wishes you the best of luck. Of course, you don't believe in "luck", but it's the thought that counts isn't it!

For the next year or so, you manage to barely get by on donations, and offerings from small churches where you get speaking invitations. Your wife is constantly worried about how you'll get by, and your relatives all think you're crazy, but then, that's what "the world" thinks. That's how they persecuted Jesus and the apostles, wasn't it!

Are you a full time minister?

¨ yes ¨ no

C. You've received a lot of input from your pastor ever since the days when he was only a youth leader when you were one of his young people. He asks you to help in various ways, such as teach the children, accompany him on visitations and even preach on occasion when he's away. You find joy in helping out in this way, so you make yourself available as often as you can.

Then, suddenly he dies from a heart attack. The church members look to you to fill the gap until a new pastor comes. Since the old pastor wasn’t married, and lived very simply, he didn’t require a big salary. However, all of the potential new pastors are married, so it’s hard to find one who can live on what the church can afford to pay, so you remain the pastor by default. You preach on Sunday mornings, and you visit members as often as you can, and basically do everything you ever saw your previous pastor do, including giving this and that one a chance to prove him or herself in ministry.

Because you also work at a full time job driving a city bus, it's easier to get people to pitch in and have more of a hand in ministry, because they see that it's too much to expect you to do it all.

Are you a full time minister?

¨ yes ¨ no

D. You really feel you have a calling, but there's just no room for you on the church staff. You have a family to support, so you can't just drop everything and go off to Bible School. Besides that, the pastor and those on his staff think you're kind of "funny" anyway, with your off-the-wall ideas that "will never work".

So, you do what you can. You visit the prison on occasion, you pass out a leaflet or two at the bus que, and you let your light shine at the office. Some of the people at your office are attracted to the gospel through your witness, including a few backslidden believers. You start an office Bible study group that meets over lunch break, and they all come faithfully to that.

There's the temptation to think that this is as much "church" as what goes on in the meeting hall that you attend every Sunday, but...

...are you a full time minister?

¨ yes ¨ no

The Answers:

A. (The Bible school grad) ¨ yes þ no -- You didn't go into full time ministry, you only made a career move. For more detail, read the explanation for question B.

B. (The grocery store clerk) ¨ yes þ no -- You didn't go into full time ministry.

Why?

Let's answer that with a question: What does minister mean?

It has come to mean "clergyman", or even "a member of the cabinet". However, the original meaning is, servant (which shows how far we've departed from the original idea in both fields). What is a servant's role? Above all else, it's to obey his or her master. If you tell your servant to wash the dishes, and instead, he or she begins washing the windows, is he or she fulfilling the role of a servant? It might look like it to outsiders, but you probably won't keep him or her on for very long will you! A full time minister, therefore, is one who obeys Jesus full time.

Now, bring that back to the case of the young grocery store clerk. While he was on his knees, did God tell him, "Quit your job?"

No?

Then was he obeying God when he quit his job?

No. God only told him He had a calling on his life, and he ran ahead of God.

Where does the Bible ever equate being a servant of God with refraining from worldly occupation? Never, in any passage that applies to us. In fact, there are more passages that would indicate that just the opposite is so -- that unless God specifically tells us otherwise, we earn our living by working. Acts 18:3; 20:34; I Thessalonians 2:9 and I Corinthians 9:3-12 all show us that Paul, though an apostle, and certainly a "full time minister" worked to earn his own living. As the I Corinthians passage indicates, he didn't insist that it was the only way for everyone, but that it was the way he was to follow himself. In I Thessalonians 4:11 and II Thessalonians 3:10-12 he warns us that we are to be be responsible in this area, and make sure we are taking care of ourselves and our families adequately -- and not by leaching off of others. Where there's any doubt, keep your job, or get one if you don't have one. (read a novel about the life of Paul)

If God has specifically told you that you are to work only in a church or a ministry situation, and not at a secular occupation, than by all means, do so. There are people called to be in career pastoral and missionary work in positions similar to A and B, but they're only full time ministers by virtue of being fully obedient to God in their calling. The fruit of their obedience is, their needs are supplied in a way that glorifies God.

C. (The pastor's assistant come pastor) þ yes ¨ no -- Your calling and your servant spirit made room for you. You saw the need and moved according to the compassion in your heart, and became a true pastor. Because you are obeying Jesus full time, you are a full time minister. The fact that you also have to work at a secular job full time is actually an advantage. When you ask the members to help, they can't give the excuse, "Why are you asking us to do what we're paying you to do?"

Some may think that this is only a transitory phase, until you get a new professional pastor, but really, you couldn't hope for a better situation, because the whole church is involved in ministry instead of just being spectators.

D. (The one in the office job) þ yes ¨ no -- Not only are you a full time minister, for the same reasons as C, above, but your "temptation" to think that this is as much "church" as what goes on in the meeting hall that you attend every Sunday, is really from the Holy Spirit. It is church, so get on with it! (for a fuller explanation of what's church, see our previous quiz, Who's the Church Planter).

What Is Ministry?

The ministry is not simply an occupation one chooses as an alternative to becoming a shoe salesman, or a garage mechanic. It is the fruit of a personal relationship with the Father in which one has learned to simply rest in His love, soak up His character, and His compassion for mankind. From that attitude of resting in Him, and learning to see the world through His eyes, and becoming intensely affected by the needs one sees around about, one begins by first interceding in prayer for those needs. Then one moves on in His strength and His ability which one has soaked up while resting in His presence, and performs those things that seem the most natural thing to do - whether it is to share the love of Jesus to a lonely soul, or to establish a group of disciples in an unreached area, heal the sick, or simply hug a fellow believer.

There is no line to be drawn between the role of every believer and the so called "full time ministry." Every believer is empowered for the work of service, whether it is gifts for the local body -- a special ability to reach out to one other person in Love -- or the ministry gifts of apostle or prophet etc. Regardless, each must begin with that which is close at hand and be faithful in the little things. No one is too big for a "small task." Likewise, no one is too small for a big task. The only limitations are those that we placed ourselves, which must be removed through our finding that place of rest and becoming ever increasingly intimate with the Father.

The "call to the ministry" --what it is NOT:

It is NOT the "go ahead" to seek the title of "Reverend."

It is NOT synonymous with the command to quit your job.

It is NOT a guarantee that you are now ready to step out into that task which you feel God is calling you to.

It may be a revelation of the gifting God may eventually place on you or the place God may call you to or a responsibility God may one day give you provided you are faithful to your present task and to remain in that attitude of rest.

It may be the pricking of the heart by the Holy Spirit to be diligent to what is at hand, and submit yourself more fully to him, because there are greater things for you down the road.

For more, read the online pamphlet, Marta! Marta!

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What’s Church?

A. Upper Downtown Christian Centre seems like a successful church by anyone’s standards, founded by the pastor, Rev. Buz Fireball around ten years ago. The church has just about everything going for it, a bus ministry that brings kids to Sunday School from the lower class neighbourhood; a great visitation program, whereby everyone who fills out a visitors card automatically gets a visit by a member of the church staff; a counselling centre; a hotline; an evangelistic team; just about everything you can think of. Pastor Fireball runs the church like a CEO, because, as he says, ‘We’re in the greatest business there is — our Father’s business!’ Just like any good successful businessman, he knows his priorities: ‘Our members are our greatest assets’, as his favourite saying goes. During Sunday morning worship, the members are made to feel like the studio audience of a television talk show (oh, did I tell you? The services are televised). Rev. Fireball’s articles are often featured in church growth journals, and he’s been a guest speaker at the Church Growth Conference in Seoul Korea, and at Fuller School of World Missions (well okay — I’m making this up, but please humour me). He’s implemented the cell group method, which he learned in Seoul, but he also emphasises some of the other methods as being the real reasons for growth.

John and Jody have been attending regularly, and have been enriched by many of the programs, such as the marriage seminars and various retreats, and they send their children to the Christian school, also run by the church. They’re as involved in the church’s activities as anyone, but for some reason, they feel an empty space inside. When they sat down to talk about it, they came to the realisation that they don’t know anyone at the church that they can call a close friend — not one they can trust with their innermost fears and feelings. Oh — maybe the counsellor the marriage centre, but that’s more of a professional thing. They meant friends. Even at the weekly home cell meeting, they don’t really get to know each other. The cell leader is more like a motivational leader, so that the cell meetings remind Jody of her MLM sales cell meetings for Braaak’s Bee Pollen Toothpaste.

Is this church?

¨ yes ¨ no

B. Colin’s Home Cell Group: Because John changed jobs, he and Jody saw fit to move house. Because they now lived in a new zone, they changed cell groups as well. The cell leader of the new group, Colin, wasn’t the type who liked to go by the printed program, and sometimes he dispensed with it altogether. He was an easy person to get to know, though, and was good at bringing people out and putting them at ease with one another, so that John and Jody actually began to develop some deep friendships within that group. Colin was also hungry for a more deeper spiritual walk with God, which was one reason he often dispensed with the weekly outline sheet. Sometimes they looked at scriptures they felt were relevant to them at the time, and at other times they simply prayed for one another. John and Jody began feeling like they were receiving from this group what they now knew was sadly lacking from the mother church, Upper Downtown Christian Centre. But...

...is this church?

¨ yes ¨ no

C. Lower Uptown Community Church: Because Colin didn’t follow the rules, he was soon dismissed from being a cell leader. He was replaced by someone who did things Rev. Fireball’s way, and the home cell meetings soon became like MLM meetings again.

Colin, in the mean time, began attending Lower Uptown Community Church, and found the pastor there a man after his own heart. He mentioned this to John and Jody one day when they had him to tea, and they, along with several other cell members began to attend as well.

Lower Uptown Community Church was pastored by Reverend Stuart Mulligan, who wasn’t a very charismatic personality, but would always go out of his way to help people. However he was torn between two obligations — to the people as their pastor, and to the endless paperwork required to keep the whole thing together, as the previous business manager had left the books in shambles. Being a smaller church, they didn’t have the resources to hire professionals, like Upper Downtown Christian Centre did, so Rev. Mulligan and his aging church secretary and a few volunteers had to try as best they could to meet all the state requirements for keeping a registered charity, looking for all the receipts and all that sort of thing, some of which were simply not there. Some of the members tried to help, but the gaps that the previous business manager left were just too big to account for. Had Reverend Mulligan spent all his time just doing paper work for about three months on end, leaving time only to prepare his sermons, he could have probably done it. He felt he just couldn’t take that time away from the daily visits with the members, and relationships that were developing.

Finally, the state auditors came, found the books in a mess, and closed the church. The congregation no longer has the right to use the building for worship, and they can’t even take offerings, because that requires either a business license or registration as a listed charity to bank the money and use it for any agreed on purpose. For the most part, the congregation dispersed, and the members began going to other churches. Colin, John and Jody and some others began going to Rev. Mulligan’s home once a week for a bar-B-Q. They try out different other churches on Sunday mornings. Sometimes they go to Upper Downtown Christian Centre, where Rev. Fireball often points out Lower Uptown Community Church as an example of unprofessional conduct that doesn’t belong in God’s business. Sometimes they just watch him on TV. They haven’t found a regular church yet, but more and more, they realise that their spiritual needs are being met at the weekly bar-B-Q at Rev. Mulligan’s home. Fellowship doesn’t stop there, but there’s also the prayer meeting at Margarette(the aging secretary)’s house. They’re also constantly visiting one another in their homes. John found Rev. Mulligan a job in one of the departments of his own company, and Jody introduced Mrs. Mulligan as a sales rep for Braaak’s Bee Pollen Toothpaste. They feel they see Jesus in the Mulligans, and in Colin, and as the small group grows, in one another as well. But...

...is this church?

¨ yes ¨ no

Answers:

A. Upper Downtown Christian Centre:

¨ yes þ no — No, it isn’t church. It may be for some, as the answer to the next question demonstrates, but for John and Jody, it isn’t. Don’t get me wrong — a lot of valuable ministry is going on, people are coming to Christ through the evangelistic ministry, broken lives are being touched through the counselling centre, children of the poor are being shown love in the Sunday school program (and perhaps for these children it was church). In fact, many things are happening that are precious to the heart of God — however, for the most part, not in the context of a true church, but more like a factory. For nurture of new born believers and full healing of broken lives, the love that flows from fellow believers is what’s needed, not professional counsellors.

Upper Downtown Christian Centre needs to heed the warning to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:2-5 (NKJV):

I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place-unless you repent.

Of the seven churches of Revelation 1-3, the church of Ephesus excelled in many things that the others were strongly rebuked for lacking, and yet, they were the only one warned that their status as a church could be forfeited if they didn’t repent (Laodicea wasn’t warned, they were already being spit out). Repent of what? Of just one thing: for losing their first love. Their works and their diligence had become more important than relationship. People had become assets.

B. Colin’s Home Cell Group:

þ yes ¨ no — Yes, for the members of Colin’s home cell group, Upper Downtown Christian Centre has become church, but not because Colin followed any prescribed formula printed out by the church office. It’s church because the members opened themselves up to one another, and began to really fellowship. Actually, it may be more accurate to say that the group Colin leads is church, the rest is something that would work if all the cell groups would follow their example and become churches — places where people open up to one another and become one in Christ.

C. Lower Uptown Community Church:

þ yes ¨ no — Yes, and what’s more, it didn’t cease to be the church because they lost their building, registration and organisational status. Church isn’t made up of programs, minutes and tax receipts, but of relationships. Where relationships are strong, the church is strong. Where people don’t really know one another, no matter how good the programs, the PR and the ability to motivate people, the church is weak. Reverend Mulligan had his priorities right when he chose people over paperwork. That’s not to say we should neglect the legal and technical matters, but, as Jesus said, ‘This you should have done and not neglected the other.’

One apt definition of the church is Ephesians 1:22,23 (KJV): ...the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

If we, as the church, are the fullness of Jesus, then the most visible attribute of any church should be Jesus, seen in each member and in the group collectively.

Did John and Jody see Jesus at Upper Downtown Christian Centre?

No, they saw Rev. Buz Fireball.

Did they see Jesus at their original cell group?

No, they saw a good sales strategy for selling Jesus, but they didn’t see Jesus.

Did they see Jesus at Colin’s home cell group?

Yes, they saw Him in Colin, and in the other members as they opened their hearts to one another.

Did they see Jesus at Lower Uptown Community Church?

Yes, they saw him in Rev. Mulligan, and in the members, and even after the break up, in the people who came to the Mulligans’ weekly bar-B-Q.

So, according to Ephesians 1:22,23, that was church.

For a more lightlhearted, and yet cutting commentary on what's really the church verses what people think is the church, read Of Dogs and Sheep, written by a chicken named Redfeather.

Assets...?

Let’s look for a moment at Buz Fireball’s favourite saying, ‘Our members are our greatest assets’.

It sounds good, doesn’t it. It seems like the speaker understands human potential — that he’s a ‘people person’ doesn’t it.

Look again:

What he is saying is, ‘People are an means to an end,’ or ‘People are assets.’

The point we are making is, in regards to the church, people do not represent assets, they represent relationships. People are not a means to an end – they are the end to whatever means we have.

Though the error is very subtle, church leaders who make the said statement are implying that the church is built on assets, and that people are valuable in that they are assets.

That is a wrong concept

The kingdom of God is not made up of assets. It’s made out of relationships. The stronger the relationships in the church, the stronger the church. A church can lose all of its assets, like Rev. Mulligan’s did, but it is not any less the church for the loss. If the relationships are all intact, the church should not be any weaker or any less vital for the loss of its assets.

Even with all its assets, a well endowed church is only as strong as the relationships in that church.

Even if each member is supposedly a ‘strong’ Christian, they read their Bibles every day, they tithe faithfully, they pray, they seem to love the Lord; if their relationships within the local body are weak, then the church is weak.

Notice that I said supposedly strong, and they seem to love the Lord. According to I John 4:20, the love they have for each other is the only true indicator of whether they really love God or not.

If each one is pursuing their own interests and not committed to one another, the church is weak. Even if they’re following after the vision of their local church, and not committed to one another in relationship, the church is still weak; because they’ve failed to submit the vision for their local church to God’s vision for the church at large. The church is therefore weak, and the only remedy is some good eye treatment.

The above, under the heading, Assets...? is based on a small excerpt from the book Eyes, from the chapter, What Do You Think I Am, an Asset? which can be read at: www.antioch.com.sg/th/twp/bookbyte/eyes

For a more lightlhearted, and yet cutting commentary on what's really the church verses what people think is the church, read Of Dogs and Sheep, written by a chicken named Redfeather.

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