I want to start a series of posts dealing with a very controversial question. How should the Church change itself out of a love for lost souls and a sincere desire to reach them? We have all seen churches grow too inward focused and became absolutely irrelevant to their communities. We have also seen churches try to altar themselves to reach the lost, only to have the church rocked to its core with conflict. This series of posts is intended to help us to think through this issue. But let’s first get a clear picture of where we are headed.
First, we need to recognize God’s blessing and be thankful that he has sent us people with a heart for reaching people for Christ. Whether or not you think their methods are misguided, we need to start by seeing the good in them which is a sincere desire to see souls saved. I know that I personally need all the help I can get in this department. Chances are your church could use a good boost in this department as well. We desperately need individuals like this in the body of Christ, and we would do well to begin a dialogue rather than a witch hunt when they suggest changing our hymn book.
On the other hand, those who wish to begin changing the church to reach the lost need to consider some things. One particular concern is the mentality that the salvation of one soul would be sufficient justification for any avenue of outreach or any change to the church. Now many would immediately think less of me for questioning this notion. Some may stop reading even. I can understand this reaction because a soul really is priceless in value. But I urge you to consider one tangible example. Do you suppose we could get more people in the door to hear the gospel if we simply did away with a few biblical regulations for the church? What about the command that women are not to be teachers over the adult men found in 1 Timothy 2:12? This is a highly offensive teaching today and ignoring it would certainly remove a stumbling block for many to come into our services and hear Christ preached. Do we justify direct disobedience to God’s word for one soul? What about for twenty souls? A hundred? Now some will recoil from this example as extreme. However, the point I am trying to make is that there are in fact limits. And we need to have a dialogue over precisely this.
Let me end today’s post with an illustration of what I’m saying. Suppose I wanted to tear down some walls in my house in order to make more space. I hire a contractor to come in and make it happen for me and I instruct him that my primary concern is making space. Before he goes into my house destroying walls with a sledge hammer, I want to know that he has thought very carefully about which walls in my house are weight bearing walls. Otherwise, we are going to have a disaster. The same principle applies to church. We must desire to see souls saved. We can rightly label this a primary concern for the church. But whether it is my home or Christ’s churches, before we give somebody a sledgehammer and our blessings we must diligently consider what NOT to knock down. When we look back years later, restoring these essentials will not be quite as easy as destroying them. In the next several posts, I do not intend to strive for a list; I intend to get us to begin thinking through the issue biblically. Nor do I intend to give a final answer to every issue I bring up. Each post will not end with "now do this." But rather I hope that these posts will better direct the conversation for the meager few who will read them.
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