Posted on 12/11/2017 1:50:26 PM PST by aMorePerfectUnion
A few months after becoming pastor of Parkway Baptist Church, a 21-year-old Armour D. Stephenson III, or “AD3” as he is affectionately known, sat down with his deacons — almost all men over 40 — and laid out plans for his own version of the great flood.
“The entire dynamic of our church was about to change,” AD3 recalls of the fateful 2006 meeting. His first decree: “Stop wearing suits on Sundays.”
The congregation’s response? An exodus. Membership dwindled from about 300 to a low of 85. “Any time you’re shifting culture, there’s going to be some casualties,” AD3 says.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
About 50-50 but yes lots of millenials with families.
Ping.
That's great! My daughter goes to a great church that has an expository preacher, but is a bit more culturally modern. Lot's of millenials.
This was the "Celtic Way of Evangelism" that evangelized Ireland in short order (before Rome screwed it up again and had to be rescued by Celts).
So, does the preacher ever get around to discussing Redemption and Salvation?
Amen!
I'm with you and agin' you on this. I dress up for church. On the other hand, the finest Gieves & Hawkes bespoke suit is but filthy rags in the eyes of Our Lord. There are old people around me wearing jeans. It is what it is. We are there to praise God. I can afford the suits. Maybe they can't. Maybe they are giving ten dollars that they can't afford to the church. Probably I'm not giving enough.
Every one of my fellow congregants is in my prayers.
“Jesus answered, “I assure you: You are looking for Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal of approval on Him.”...
...Therefore, when many of His disciples heard this, they said, “This teaching is hard! Who can accept it?”...
...From that moment many of His disciples turned back and no longer accompanied Him.” - John 6
It is true that the church needs to care about people. But that caring needs to include a warning - that God loves us WHERE we are, but not AS we are.
“Repent,” Peter said to them, “and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit...And with many other words he testified and strongly urged them, saying, “Be saved from this corrupt generation!” - Acts 2
Contrast that with :
I’m not worried about your sexuality right now. I’m not worried about what you did Saturday night. I’m worried about what do you know about Jesus and how can I tell you more about him. Not let me tell you why God is upset at you.”
When ministry success is defined as how many are driving down the broad road with you, rather than pointing out where that road leads and the narrow way that escapes it, then it is not a ministry focused on God.
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so the outside of it may also become clean.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every impurity. 28 In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. - Matt 23
May not have packed them in to the First Seeker Church of Jerusalem, but Jesus preached it anyways.
For me it was kinda sad to read the article. Its great that younger people are attending these churches BUT at what cost??? Is the gospel being watered down? Are they being taught to live for Christ? Are they being discipled?
In one part of the article one of the pastors said “The role of the church is to see a need and meet a need” No its not!! The role FIRST AND FOREMOST is to Glorify and Worship God and to lift Him up!!! Then the “needs” will be met when one first gets the vertical relationship correct and then the “horizontal” relationships will be then met!!! In the article it seems that all that is being considered is that MAN is “glorified and worshiped” and trying to be relevant to man FIRST and not being relevant to God FIRST. Here in this scenario mans view of God is SMALL and the view of man is BIG.
The second point is that they speak of attention spans being “short” so they “rush thru the service and try to keep it to an hour. That is SHALLOW “christianity”!!!! Again man is put FIRST and not God!!! How can learning be accomplished leading to effective discipleship? How can a difference be made in the lives of the people if they meet only an hour a week and know the service is being “rushed thru” to accommodate man?? We wonder why the church has no influence as it once did. Its because we are raising shallow believers who couldnt articulate the core doctrines of the faith or even know what the gospel is!!!
Below are links to some interviews from a bible study called Behold Your God: Rethinking God Biblically. Its a great study i highly recommend.
https://vimeo.com/130918095 Interview with Conrad Mbewe on pragmatism in the church. One key point, of many, is that UNLESS one FIRST wants to glorify God BEFORE MAN the church isn’t following what God wants them to do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9Bn3mt4fDk Paul Washer on pragmatism and the need to cut ourselves off from the arm of flesh, which is pragmatism. We do not see much of God because we don’t preach the gospel.
https://vimeo.com/127725807 Paul Washer warning church leaders on the evils of pragmatism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycgKmYmTkSE John Snyder on pragmatism and planting churches in modern society. (there is a plug for the Behold your God Study but it returns back to the meat of the argument on pragmatism)
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SWEET!!!! May I ask what church??? Mine is the same way, expositional and Scripture/Gospel centered holding to a high view of who God is. Going to second service due to growth of people who want to hear the gospel and of Christ and NOT all the extraneous trappings!!
Lets pray more head that way.
LOL my thoughts also
“So, does the preacher ever get around to discussing Redemption and Salvation?”
From the sermon a week ago at church I attend (was sick yesterday):
“The most difficult of God’s plans is one that put His love to an excruciating test: approving the sacrificial mutilation of the Son of God as the only remedy that could save any of the human race from everlasting destruction!
How long did God wait to approve this plan after our first ancestors, Adam and Eve, rebelled against God’s perfect love toward them and His magnificent plans for them? Our Creator knew His Son’s perfect sacrifice would be necessary to save us from everlasting ruin, even before He created our world, as I Peter 1:18-20 (NCV) discloses:
“You know that in the past you were living in a worthless way, a way passed down from the people who lived before you. But you were saved from that useless life. You were bought, not with something that ruins like gold or silver, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, who was like a pure and perfect lamb. 20 Christ was chosen before the world was made, but He was shown to the world in these last times for your sake.”
The Apostles preached about sin, salvation, and the cost it took to redeem and save us. Changing that to, “We want to help you become a better you” - which seems to be the message in this article - may draw the people in, but does it SAVE them? Can the Gospel be preached without discussing repenting, or even without pointing out what one needs to turn away FROM?
I think clearly not.
My “dress appropriately” comes by way of my dear, departed mom and my entire childhood. . If you think I am wear’n blue jeans to church, and risk her wrath. .....ain’t gunna happen. LOL. Love you mom!
As I read the article and especially the comments above, I was reminded of the sorts of people that our Lord used to hang out with. It wasn’t the Pharisees. It was tax collectors, fallen women, fishermen, etc. Obviously he saw value in a welcoming approach.
“Dress appropriately.”
I’d rather sit by a poor guy in ragged jeans praying devoutly than a poser in a flashy suit who is worried about missing his ‘T’ time praying that the preacher keeps his sermon short.
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