I am passionate about becoming the church in the 21st century.
We will not reach people if we are striving to be “exactly” like the 1st century church. Let me clarify. This does not mean we abandon what the 1st century did. It does not mean we abandon the things the 1st century church believed. It does mean, however, we use whatever means we have available to help us to reach people in a culturally relevant way as I believe scripture teaches the 1st century church did.
Yes. i think though that being a radically successful church in the 21st century (depending upon how you measure success, i suppose) may depend on whether or not we are courageous enough to be like the 1st century church in some ways. What about the extent they were willing to take care of each other? Or their commitment to beliefs despite being drastically misinterpretted and rumored about by society (it was widely rumored in the Roman Empire that Christians were atheists, cannibals, and incestuous)? Or what about their willingness to spread the gospel even to the point of resisting local authorities?
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me like a lot of people that insist on being like the 1st century church are doing so on very "safe" issues that in the end are going to bore more people than challenge them (is anyone really going to be jaw-droppingly blown away that we have weekly communion like the 1st century rather than quarterly?). Maybe if we started insisting on being like the 1st century in other, weightier ways (love, community, boldness etc), then we'd start to see results. What do you think?
Love it. Great comments and I totally agree. I also believe another problem we have, maybe more of the one I was leaning towards, is getting away from legalism. I truly believe God never intended for us to actually be the 1st century church; but to serve like them, to give like them, and to love like them...that is a culture shift I think and hope our generation is committed to seeing through.
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