More On Effective Church Action

Town turns to prayer to fight pornography
Courtesy of OneNewsNow

An adult entertainment facility in Lavonia, Georgia, has shut its doors, and opponents believe it was due to the power of prayer.

Café Risqué opened six years ago, and the city lost several lawsuits to try to close it or force it to move from its location along the nearby interstate highway. The business was deemed an embarrassment to the city, but residents turned to prayer in order to shut the place down.

Larry Finger is senior pastor at First Baptist Church. "We prayed and hoped and trusted that the Lord would help us, and then eventually a situation came up where the property owner was prepared to sell, and using a third party, the city had someone buy the property," he details. "Then the city bought the property from them and closed the establishment."

Out of all the approaches to try to shut down the business, the only one that worked was prayer, says Finger. "It was a scourge on our community and we knew it, but we had come to the point where we thought we were almost hopeless outside God's miraculous help -- and we finally got the victory, and a great one it has been," says a joyful Finger.

The senior pastor is hopeful other towns with a similar problem -- perhaps that are ill-equipped to deal with the situation -- will not forget about prayer. He notes that Lavonians prayed for six years before there was a solution.

What?! You mean prayer actually WORKS?

Did you notice how long it took?

Have you ever quit before 6 years was finished?

I think that I probably added a couple prayers to theirs without knowing it on trips to Atlanta and Florida. I'm glad that place is gone... just like I'm glad Dockside Dolls in Mebane is gone. I credit prayer with that one too.

It is really amazing what the Church could accomplish if we would simply BELIEVE what the Bible says and act on that belief.

What Is Church?

We need to rethink our definition of “church.” When we come to “church” as an individual who is primarily a consumer we begin to view church as an “event” where we can consume spirituality or religion to meet our own personal needs. The alternative here is to move from church as event to church as family. When we approach “church” as individuals in a community where we are cooperating together for a common goal its almost impossible to think of church as an event. Instead a better metaphor for church, as we have talked about at The Well a lot recently, is “family.” A family cooperating together to care together for the individual needs, all for a common goal.

- Todd Hiestand pastor of The Well (From the Provocative Church blog)

Church On Thursday Night

I'm not quite sure of the venue yet, but there will be church on Thursday night. It will either be at my house or at my sister's. We will probably start at 6:00 PM. Food will almost assuredly be involved. I'd say that there is a good chance that there will be music, and there will be time invested discussing the Scriptures. We'll probably do some praying too.

This week's text will be 1 Corinthians 14:26 and we'll continue our exploration of what is involved in having church. Please feel free to bring a friend. There's always room for one more!

Church Went Great

Our gathering tonight was small. My sister woke up sick this morning and another couple decided to celebrate the sale of one of their houses. I can't say that I blame them at all. So there were only four of us - make that five - present. I say five, because it was clear that the Lord did show up too.

We had a great meal and talked about what was going on with each other. We played some jazz. We drank tea and ate Girl Scout cookies. (The coffee pot accidentally got broken.) We practiced some worship songs. Frankly a couple of them were pretty rough.

When we finished singing, we sat back at the table and talked about Acts 2:42-47. We laughed at our hosts' spastic cats. We shared prayer requests and we prayed.

It was perfect. I'd put our night up against anyone out there engaged in the Valentine's Day madness.

We liked it so much we're going to do it again next week too!

More to come... hope you can too!

What Exactly Constitutes 'Church' Anyway?

Ever since the demise of StillWaters I have been wondering exactly what constitutes having church. What are the key elements? What must be present to have had church, and which elements are optional?

One of the things that I have realized is that my community seems to be bound by a religious spirit. Lots of people are very religious, but few seem to have any idea about what it really means to be a Christian. Most are content as long as the service never really deviates from that to which they have become accustomed (and as long as there are adequate programs to take care of their needs.)

Even worse is that this spirit also manifests itself as false religion. Our county has a massive center for Jehovah's Witnesses that draws people from all over the country. There is also a very strong pagan presence in Rowan County. Freemasonry is extremely prevalent, and I dare say that in many of the congregations in our area, fully half of the men are Masons. Truly, those who call themselves Christians but depend on some sort of good works theology are bound by false religion too.

Recently I was talking with a friend of mine whose church meets on Sunday night. We were talking about how strange it is to get up on Sunday morning and not go to church. It is really hard to get it through your head that you have had church when you don't go on Sunday morning at 11:00. It violates that which is religious inside of you. I told her that perhaps the thing to do to help this community would be to have a church that really pushes against religion - an anti-religious church if you will.

Before people start flaming me, let me make it explicitly clear that I am not talking about doing anything that violates doctrinal orthodoxy. The church has many traditions that have become sacred cows. I'm thinking it may be time for some steak.

So this brings me back to my original question, "What elements are required for Christian worship to take place?" The main passage that I have had in mind as an answer to this question is in the book of Acts.

42And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42-47 (ESV)

What were the elements of worship in the earliest church? In verse 42 we see devotion to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread (which at the very least meant the sharing of the Lord's Supper) and prayer. In verse 44 it would seem that they couldn't get enough of each other! They were together alot. They were aware of each other's needs and generously sacrificed to help each other out.

I also thought about 1 Corinthians 14:26 (in three different translations for clarity):

26What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. (ESV)

26What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation Let all things be done for edification. (NASB)

26 Well, my brothers and sisters, let’s summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you. (NLT)

According to this passage it would seem that each person is to be involved in the worship service. Each person is to bring something that the Lord has shared with him. I am reminded of the passage in Exodus where we are told that no one should come before the Lord empty-handed.

I have two more passages that come to mind. The first is Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” and the second is John 4:23-24, "But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

In the first passage, it appears that not a lot of people have to come together for God to get involved. Two or three will suffice. And in the second we see that it is imperative that we worship God in spirit and in truth.

So, to summarize: Christian worship requires at least two believers, the Spirit, and truth. It requires more than superficial interaction but needs true koinonia. The remembrance of the Lord's sacrifice through communion seems to be a minimum and a meal seems to aid koinonia. Devotion to the Scriptures and prayer are essential. Concern for each other's welfare and generosity towards each other play a significant role. Finally, everyone seems to be responsible to contribute to the gathering using the gifts that God has given them.

These are just my initial ruminations on this topic. I am sure that I could go much deeper and do a much more in-depth study. I'll keep chewing on it for a while. Any thoughts that you have on the subject would be welcome as I ponder this change in paradigm.

On a side note, I don't want anyone to think that I am trashing all church tradition. I actually appreciate traditions as long as I can see good reasons for them. Over the years as I have drunk from the springs of different denominations I have found that there is life and validity in many of the Church's traditions. The problem comes when we maintain a tradition for its own sake.

In the meantime I am preparing chicken and dumplings for the folks on my worship team for tomorrow night. Most everyone who is coming will be pitching in an element of our meal. As we enjoy the meal, I am sure that we will talk about the things that have gone on throughout our day. Afterwards we will work on a couple of worship songs, talk briefly about a passage from the Bible, and spend some time praying.
Could it be that we will be having church?

A Good Read...

Internet Monk has a really interesting series going on the church that would be worth checking out. In it he discusses the flawed but perfect paradox that we see in the Scriptures.