Archive for the 'Theology' Category

Christians and Their Local Church

First of all let me state that it is essential for Christians to be part of a local church. Christianity is not merely an individualistic, solitary pursuit of God – but the gospel compels us to seek and save the lost in our community and also to support, encourage and challenge other Christians. While advances in technology and transportation have enabled “the local church” to comprise people living in wider and wider geographic spaces – it has not yet made it such that Christianity is “beyond” the need of local fellowship, support and service.

The internet especially has made it possible for many pastors and pastor-like figures to minister to people all over the world. Yet could, say, John Piper or Rick Warren provide me accountability and encouragement like my local pastor or small group leader?

Pastors exist for more than just teaching. They also serve a role in counselling and contributing to the discipline of church members. But this is not because pastors are in a position of hierarchical authority – but authority for the sake of order. The agreement between pastors and members (and there should be some kind of explicit agreement – a relationship between pastors and “church attenders” is often ambiguous and weak) is one where the member agrees to submit to the pastor’s authority for the sake of order and where the pastor agrees to care for and accept some responsibility for the discipline and growth of a member.

Pastors, however, need to be supported. Church members should support their pastor financially so that his basic needs are met and he can make his living from the gospel. Yet the church also is not a jobs program. The giving in the early church was to support the gospel and to help the poor. Members should not feel obligated to give for extravagant marketing, “outreach” programs which have unclear goals and dubious methods or to support unneeded staff and purchases. Churches should be open about their budgets to enable members to scrutinise and evaluate how their money is being spent (and it is their money).

Serving in the Local Church
Serving in the local church has been a topic that has been clouded by the principles of government and business. It has become hip for churches to hand out fancy titles to people serving along with recognition and various forms of ego-stroking. It is also difficult for church members not to assign status and rankings to various kinds of service: things like teaching, leading worship and other more visible opportunities are favoured while cleaning, Sunday School and preparing coffee are seen as less important. But serving is serving – and we are not serving an organisation which ranks us and values us according to the “level” of our service – but we are serving God, who we cannot impress or earn favour from.

Serving in the local church can take a lot of forms – and need not necessarily be in some “official” capacity on a Sunday morning. Opening up one’s house for students or other families can be ministry – as can helping someone work on their house. The local church is a collection of people – not a building or set of leaders. Serving these people is serving the church.

What The Local Church Shouldn’t Be Doing
A good old friend of mine used to pastor a church in Idaho somewhere. He told me once about a woman in his congregation who had been wanting to see her neighbour saved. She called the pastor one day, telling him that he should come over and speak to the person about the gospel. The pastor informed her that it was not his job to evangelise for her – it was her neighbour and her responsibility to be sharing the gospel. The woman was not happy.

This pastor’s response may have been a little crass – but it was correct. Part of the entitlement mentality brought on by the explosion of material wealth in the western world has affected even this most basic Christian institution – evangelism. Christians are too busy with their careers, friends, family and church responsibilities to evangelise – better leave that to official church “outreaches” or, even better, just invite people to church and maybe they will just “get it.” Personal, one-to-one evangelism which expresses individual care and attention to sinners is too much work in today’s world. Economies of scale now requires these people to get the gospel en masse in church services, community events, holiday services or concerts.

But it is not the job of pastors and other church leaders to do evangelism for Christians. It is their job to equip Christians to do these things themselves (Ephesians 4:12).

Evangelism for a Christian is not asking someone along to church or some other activity. It is not taking someone out for dinner or having them over. Evangelism is sharing the gospel – it is speaking the words of the gospel in compassion to individuals. Church members must not expect that because their church puts on events for the public, they are exempt from actually sharing the gospel with people. The local church also needs to be focussing more resources on teaching and encouraging people to share the gospel themselves, not wasting money and resources building up lifestyle-evangelism practices.

Financial Support of the Local Church
How we support the local church, and indeed, whether we even should, is tied back to the question of why a local church exists. The local church is not a jobs program, a business or a representative actor for what Christians should be doing on their own. It is, however, a collective gathering of Christians, administered by pastors, for corporate worship, ministry and teaching, a source of material aide for poor Christians and a resource to support Christians in evangelism.

This model requires some financing, and Christians should be giving to undergird such a resource. But the local church is in no way comparable to any Hebrew institution which was tithed to, nor is the local church God. The local church is the primary means for God to work in the life of a believer so it should be getting funded in corresponding priority. I believe that the bible gives only a few “rules” about how the church is funded – as one is able, voluntarily, cheerfully and in grace (2 Corinthians 9).