Church purpose versus church growth

The opposition between God’s purpose for the Church and numerical growth as a purpose for churches

Are We Mistaken in Practice about the Real Purpose of the Church?

The early church were mostly outcasts, who understood the cost of discipleship and shunned fame, power and wealth as measures of their success. But we have embraced all of those things, and lost our witness and the core of our life in Christ as a result.

Our Oneness Makes Christ Visible to the World

It is our unity that makes Jesus visible to the world in us. It was practical unity that made the Jerusalem church attractive. Restoration of that unity was a precondition to the effective preaching of Steven and Phillip.

Another Consequence of Divisions: Wrongs and Lawsuits Among Us

Our disunity also leads to the multiplication of wrongs and injustices between us, often motivated by our greed. These wrongs lead to lawsuits among us. To our shame, we look just like the world in this matter!

The First Consequence of Division: A Sick Body

Causes of division in the Body of Christ are compared in the scriptures to gangrene and leprosy. There are also valid comparisons to cancers and autoimmune disorders. Divisions have led to rejection of whole branches of the church by other branches, to religious violence and persecution and to bloody wars. They have also caused many to reject Christianity.

God’s Promises for the Church Together as One

Many of God’s promises to us are given to the Church together, collectively. They become effective for us individually only as we are living in love, as a functioning part of the Body of Christ.

Our Oneness in the Body of Christ and the Consequences of Ignoring It

What happens to you affects me. If we choose to work together, the Body of Christ is healthy and effective. If we choose not to recognize each other, we are still one, but the Body of Christ os diseased.

We Are Called to Live Out the Truth of Our Oneness

We are called to live out the unity of the Body of Christ. The Body is already one, but we have a role in making that oneness effective in the world.

Answers to Some Reader Questions about Prayer, Prayer Burdens and National Sins

A reader recently asked some very perceptive questions about my views concerning prayer, prayer burdens, and prayer for national sins. Here, I am publishing my answers to those questions. (The reader also asked some personal questions, which I omit from this posting): You asked:  “Also that what matters is your relationship with the Lord not what denomination someone is or…
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Humans “Male and Female” and Marriage as Pictures of God’s Unity in Diversity

The creation of humans as male and female, marriage and reproduction are all a part of the image of God in human beings, and are all an intelligible picture of God’s unity in diversity. They also point to our unity iwith each other and God n the Church.

The Human Being as a Picture of God’s Complex Unity

Human beings are made in God’s image, a picture of his complex unity. Body and spirit must be united to form a soul. Each of the faculties of the soul and parts of the body together form a single, unified person.