With all of the recent books flying off the Christian bookshelves concerning this ministry model versus that approach, it is no wonder that ministers are buying into the latest and greatest. After all, if I can take a general truth about ministry and tweak the language just a bit, I could make a boat load of cash with my own book (of course I would have to donate it to the ministry...maybe one or two trips to Cancun...no...to the ministry). The result...chaos.
Man-made religion is nothing new. The apostle Paul dealt with this very issue in Colossians 2 and exhorted the church not to allow anyone to draw them away from the faith, to hold fast to the Head, which is Christ. When men are called by a church to minister in the name of Christ, but rather usher in "his vision," the result is confusion as one minister's vision differs from another and who is correct? The resulting mentality is the bunker approach, meaning "I was here before you came here and I will be here after you leave." Granted there are other issues that contribute to this lack of trust, such as the longevity aspect, but it all starts with the message being proclaimed. Is it the gospel of Jesus Christ or is it a message invented by the wisdom of man.
I recently attended a church while on vacation that greatly saddened me. It is a church with deep historical roots, having made a great impact on literally thousands of lives. The service, however, was completely man-centered in theology and music on that day. I spoke with one of the ministers after the service and could not believe what I was hearing. He said that he was sick of the same old message every week, referring to the gospel, and wanted to recreate the church to be "relevant" and "interesting." Yet another congregation headed toward the Baptist version of charismatic chaos and the pools of wood, hay, and stubble from an eternal perspective...disastrous. Just because one's vision is covered in Christian terminology, does not prove that the idea is from the Lord. The book of Jeremiah constantly addresses the issue of men claiming to speak for God who were never sent by the Lord. These become dangerous waters when men claim to have a vision from the Lord, especially when this vision cannot be found in Scripture.
So what is the solution? What do we tell people, how do we lead people, what is our message? It begins with and stands firmly on the gospel of Christ found in the word of God! I am a staunch believer that God has revealed to us how He wants us to worship Him, how churches should be structured, how the ordinances must be carried out, etc. We can and should summarize these positions so that we and God's people are clear on what we are seeking to accomplish and how we will get there, but such vision must be biblical, not invented late at night while lying on one's couch and thinking about the church. Here is a good indicator - if my vision contradicts God's word, then maybe it is not a biblical vision. If the songs that we are singing aren't even Scriptural or possibly contradict Scripture, maybe we are worshipping in vain. Allow the Word to dictate vision, music, structure, and all the other necessary issues rather than being "creative" and "original" and find yourself leading others into sub-godliness or even ungodliness.
Man-made religion is nothing new. The apostle Paul dealt with this very issue in Colossians 2 and exhorted the church not to allow anyone to draw them away from the faith, to hold fast to the Head, which is Christ. When men are called by a church to minister in the name of Christ, but rather usher in "his vision," the result is confusion as one minister's vision differs from another and who is correct? The resulting mentality is the bunker approach, meaning "I was here before you came here and I will be here after you leave." Granted there are other issues that contribute to this lack of trust, such as the longevity aspect, but it all starts with the message being proclaimed. Is it the gospel of Jesus Christ or is it a message invented by the wisdom of man.
I recently attended a church while on vacation that greatly saddened me. It is a church with deep historical roots, having made a great impact on literally thousands of lives. The service, however, was completely man-centered in theology and music on that day. I spoke with one of the ministers after the service and could not believe what I was hearing. He said that he was sick of the same old message every week, referring to the gospel, and wanted to recreate the church to be "relevant" and "interesting." Yet another congregation headed toward the Baptist version of charismatic chaos and the pools of wood, hay, and stubble from an eternal perspective...disastrous. Just because one's vision is covered in Christian terminology, does not prove that the idea is from the Lord. The book of Jeremiah constantly addresses the issue of men claiming to speak for God who were never sent by the Lord. These become dangerous waters when men claim to have a vision from the Lord, especially when this vision cannot be found in Scripture.
So what is the solution? What do we tell people, how do we lead people, what is our message? It begins with and stands firmly on the gospel of Christ found in the word of God! I am a staunch believer that God has revealed to us how He wants us to worship Him, how churches should be structured, how the ordinances must be carried out, etc. We can and should summarize these positions so that we and God's people are clear on what we are seeking to accomplish and how we will get there, but such vision must be biblical, not invented late at night while lying on one's couch and thinking about the church. Here is a good indicator - if my vision contradicts God's word, then maybe it is not a biblical vision. If the songs that we are singing aren't even Scriptural or possibly contradict Scripture, maybe we are worshipping in vain. Allow the Word to dictate vision, music, structure, and all the other necessary issues rather than being "creative" and "original" and find yourself leading others into sub-godliness or even ungodliness.
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