It’s actually before the first line, Laubach included a quote from Richard Halverson, while he was serving as a chaplain for the US Senate. Here is what he said:
Christianity started out in Palestine as a fellowship. Then it moved to Greece and became a philosophy, then it went to Rome and became an institution, and then it went to Europe and became a government. Finally it came to America where we made it an enterprise.
I was thinking about this quote. I am not going to speak to the rest, but the idea that American Christianity is an Enterprise is an interesting thought. Enterprises make a lot of money, and while most of our churches are struggling, American’s spend amazing amount of money on Christian “accessories.” Everything from Bibles and devotionals, to jewelry and T-shirts. An enterprise has certainly been born out of American Christianity.
The task at hand, is how do we return to the original idea of fellowship. Churches all over America have tried every program imaginable, only to find what Willow Creek just admitted, that programs don’t work. We’ve jumped at the small group idea, and found that overall, small groups make very small fellowships. Overall, we aren’t much closer to the idea of fellowship in our churches.
So what’s the answer? I don’t know. Any ideas???
1 comment:
Pastor Steve, your words reflect the idea of what THE HOLY SPIRIT has to lead our church in this direction.
The Bible says: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'LORD, LORD,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of MY FATHER Who is in heaven {will enter.}" (Matthew 7:21, New American Standard Bible). Unfortunately, CHRISTians made a mistake. They forgot the root of their name - CHRIST. Just remember the birthday of CHRIST. Again CHRISTmas has lost its root. Christmas sale.. Christmas pudding.. Christmas shopping.. The list is endless. Consult a dictionary if you wish. Imagine these words without their root - ......ian, ......ianity, ......mas, ......en, ......endom, etc. Do you like it? Let us remember HIM Who is our FATHER, Who is not philosophy or the way to get money or pleasure. Let us, beloved sisters and brothers, be HIS children and remember the Cost that has been paid for us.
Your sister Anna,
Novosibirsk church.
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