The church service is where the corporate body of BELIEVERS gather and worship God together. The primary event of the corporate worship is the reading and exposition of the Word of God. I see that it is to be a regular, routine occurrence and is different that individual devotions and group Bible studies.
As I read the New Testament, I see that most, if not all, of the conversions take place on the street or in a secular setting, and were either mass conversions or separate individual conversions.
Church is the goal of evangelism, not the place for it.
“Religion” has been a struggle for me for many years. “Churchianity” has been a part of that struggle. - I tend to agree with you about the purpose of church, and I’ve made some peace after all this time that everyone isn’t going to be pleased with any church situation 100% of the time. So, right now, I’m just doing the best I can on that front. In the struggle, I’ve gotten into some real messes over the years. Part of that has been due to acting on initial impressions of churches and preachers and finding out the hard way that first impressions aren’t always a good indicator of the reality.
That doesn't leave much.
Although I am for any sort of outreach that will bring seekers to the cross, I, too, am a little concerned about the sudden PC "accept whatever belief they bring with them" approach. I have a member in my church that doesn't believe in the resurrection. I would think that would be rather basic for a Christian church.
I recently challenged a global church leader on this new approach and mentioned that Islam, Mormon and Catholic were the religions if not growing, certainly not shrinking at the rate some protestant churches are shrinking, and they haven't stepped back from their doctorine one inch. He told me, "that simply isn't true". I think it so is true.
Yes! Very Good! We, in obedience to our Lord, must give out the Gospel, on the streets, on our jobs, and in our homes!
We know the gospel is the power of God unto salvation!
(Romans 1:16)
And the Lord “added to the church daily such as would be saved.”
(Acts 2:47c)