GOD. YOUTH. TRUTH.

“If I could find a church which did not insist upon creed and ceremony; a church where money was not the everlasting theme; I would attend.” You may have heard this phrase in some form from people who are outside the church when they offer their public opinion of what they desire from the Body of Christ. Despite the clear objective of the Church, the world still claims to want from a church what we already offer. Here we claim no creed except the Bible, we have no formal ceremony, the service is simple and congregational, the music is beautiful, the preaching varied, and all the seats are free. This is the world’s formula of the ideal church, yet we do not see the throngs of outsiders pouring into our pews to become believers of the Word.

In a bid to win over the souls of the lost in a sea of various spiritual options, we are just a single church out of the mixed bunch that is offering this world eternal salvation. For the last few decades, the church has been concerned with what draws people in from the outside. We have created programs to involve those from the world to help them feel comfortable enough to show up to Sunday services, but these very programs have often times adopted the ways of the world to accomplish their goal. The broad scope of Christianity has adopted so many things from the outside that the Gospel of Christ has been lost in yoga programs and skate parks. We have become entertainers of the world and not the revolutionary believers of Christ that we have been called to be. We are more concerned with keeping people happy than keeping God happy. We have focused on the concept of greater numbers and have allowed the concept of greater Christians to fall by the wayside.

Paul tells the Romans not to be conformed by the world but transform by the renewing of their mind (Romans 12:2). Rome was the center of the cultural world at the time that Paul wrote this, and he was well aware that there would be pressures to adopt the cultural movements of the day. Corinth had an issue with sexual immorality in the church due to the pagan temple practices there (remember the Body is the temple of God), and Paul’s concern could have been very similar here. His primary warning stands clear to all believers: “Do not be like the world, Change the world!” I am convinced the same stands true for us today. The thing about cultural changes in the world is that we are to test them against the will of God, and keep the things that are good, acceptable, and perfect. Our objective should be to change the world with the Gospel of Christ not allow the world to change the Gospel so that we can feel better about “bringing more souls in”.