Towards Biblical Church.....?

I've decided to become more positive. It occurred to me that a lot of the time we/I get drawn into a despairing negativity by what we see around us in church life. With the Bible in our hands, the Holy Spirit in our hearts and the cause of Jesus predominant in our thinking, we look around and wonder what on earth is going on, and when is Heaven going to do something about it.

So, my blogging is going to begin to state positively what the church must become in order to fulfil what the Father requires of the Bride for His Son. Having pondered and prayed much about this, and read tonnes of stuff, my fingers feel inclined to put something readable down.

There are, of course, a few groundrules.

Traditional thinking - the manmade variety - is out of the window. There are Godly traditions we must keep. But manmade ones - out! Now this is not easy for me. After 63 years in church life you must pick up a few, but I am determined to let them go. If you don't think I am, tell me.

Also, it must be Biblical. Nothing else will do now. I (literally) don't care what man has made up. I may lose some friends, and that's a shame, I will miss you, but time is short. And a few less people at my funeral won't worry me too much! I am learning to love His Book increasingly, and He has revealed so much of His Will to us, that we must begin to drop our own plans, and adopt His. Urgently. We are facing a wipe-out in this country. Our enemies are around us, and within. Satan is (shorterm) rubbing his hands. Longterm he knows he's lost. It's the bit in between I plan to address.

I cannot offer you a 'local model'. What I am planning to present does not exist in my city of Leicester UK, to my knowledge. I believe it exists elsewhere, but I have no desire/leading to
move. This is theory as far as I am concerned. I long for the practical outworking.

I start soon.

I Can't Get My Head Around This One...

Someone recently mentioned that we are to celebrate soon in the UK (apparently it was a couple of weeks ago in the US...so we are not 10 years behind..) the event 'Back to Church Sunday'. I choked.

Google is so useful. I discovered that the CofE, Baptist and Methodist denominations jointly sponsor this event in an attempt to get people to attend a church service near their home, perhaps for the first time ever, or for the first time for a long time. Sometimes I just cannot believe what I hear and read. The more I think about it, the more ridiculous it sounds.

How can you 'go back to church'? You are either in it, or not. The Church is a people who have been gathered together in His Name. Sure, you can opt out. And sure, a decision is made on joining. But you don't 'go' anywhere. So you can't 'leave' anywhere. So you can't 'go back' anywhere!

When are we going to see that we don't 'go to church'? Ever. We 'are' church. Always.

What a difference it will make. Instead of 2 or 3 hours a week. 24/7. 52.

On a Mission...

This past week I set myself a discipline. Not in a bad way! I do not respond well to programmes and legalistic schemes, these days. In fact, never did. But particularly as I get older. But I decided to read Acts in a week. Not quickly, in a rushed way, but slowly and reflectively. And I used 'The Message'. This is a 'translation' I am becoming increasingly comfortable with. As you know, I am not clever enough to judge it's 'accuracy' - but I find it stimulates my thinking. I feel this is because all the other versions (including my beloved 'JND' version) make the teaching seem archaic and therefore not relevant. 'The Message' reads in such an up-to-date way, it sounds as if it happened yesterday..and is being reported by Sky, CNN or John Simpson...therefore relevant..now. It works for me!

I can recommend this exercise. The over-riding impact of this reading was to challenge me again about the vast gulf in experience between 1st century church and what we have today. They are so different. It almost seems like a 'different faith'. It's like 'Champions League' compared to park football. Concorde to Tiger Moth. Ferrari to Austin 7. I think you have my point! Recognisably similar, but poles apart in experience.

Gosh, it was dangerous then. Imprisonment, torture even death lurked around every corner. Theological debates were hotly fought. Relationships were tested. Decisions made. But in everything, Jesus was central, fellowship was vital, leading by the Spirit daily and the fear of the Lord evident. Tough times for those who lived at such a time, but underneath it all, forgive me the words don't seem right, but there was a sense of joy, excitement...even, dare I say it, ...fun!

Can we re-capture this? Of course we can. In fact we must. And if we don't do it soon, it will be forced upon us by God's great persuader...'persecution'. If the church corporate does not give up it's agenda (often called 'vision'...a word I am becomming increasingly uncomfortable with, in the current useage) and become a biblical expression of His body, it will be forced upon us by a divine parent who wants what is best for us. Not a pale, weak, childish man-made imitation.

We must leave the muddy messy mindless game on the local park, and make our way to the Neu Camp.

Has Anyone Noticed...?

Chatting about church life last night with a friend of mine, he commented that there seems to be so little spiritual gift activity in meetings these days. What he meant, I believe, was that tongues, interpretation, prophecy, word of knowledge and suchlike, do not seem to be as evident as they were, say 25 years ago. My brain has been examining this statement....as you can imagine!

He is absolutely right. Our memory does not play tricks, nor are we harking back to 'the good old days'. The average church service is devoid of much that could be described as supernatural. Mostly pretty straight stuff and most services could be mistaken in style with a political party meeting or a slick sparkly product launch.

WHY?

Because god is moving again and we haven't. Simple. As with the children of Israel in the wilderness led by the cloud and fire, He has moved on and we have hung on to what we know. I am reminded of the verse 'and Samson did not know that the spirit had departed'. Now I know that the Holy Spirit indwells the believer and we are 'sealed'. OK no problem. But when we gather corporately we have things so organised, polished, practised and beautifull presented that there is no need for the Holy Spirit to attend, so he slips away...un-noticed and un-missed.

We have attended 5 different church services in the past 2 months. All pleasant, neat, welcoming, friendly, even inspiring and stimulating. But only one had any evidence of spiritual gifting in any obviously supernatural way, and even that was not at all 'edgy', if you know what I mean!

We need to move. To catch up. God is waiting and the Holy Spirit is ready to ignite again.

Personally, I can't wait. My impatience is becoming unbearable. But individually we cannot do it. Moving the camp is a corporate event!