The way the ministry and the church tend to operate today, seems to have become a lot like any other business. Businesses of any kind are always in a constant renovation, restructuring, or upgrading, all for the sake of maintaining their appeal, and of course with the ultimate goal of selling their product and grow wealth.
Although these are acceptable patterns of action in businesses, I don’t think that God intended for His Church to operate in such way. There is no hint in the Bible that we, as followers of Christ, are to follow such a road, no matter how appealing it might be, in order to attract “customers”.
It is not customers or enrollees that the church should be about but saved souls. And that is only possible through the straight message of the Gospel.
On particular trait that the church at large seems to have incorporated from the world -and particularly from the world of business- relates to how we treat old and new people. Old, we need to retire them so we can ‘aggiornate” and young, we must re-shape them into what we want before we release them. It can go like this “Retire old people and bring in new blood (just not too young, because we need to shape them into the accepted ways)” almost as if the “old” are too out of touch new technology or theological freshness, or social trends, and the young might be too young to understand what only the ‘elite’ in the middle can grasp.
When we look into the Bible, both Old and New Testament, we find a very different pattern, where all function together. There were leaders, and there was the congregation, of Israel or the church/es. And all work together. People of over 100 years of age and little children. What makes the body of Christ work is not what the world can offer to create relevance, but what heaven -and only heaven- can supply.
Those like Paul, who knew he was nearing the end, said “I am about to be sacrificed” by the Romans, not the church. In any case there was that one church that wanted to discard Paul, but that was because of the church running a troubled line of behavior, and Paul was too old fashioned for the Corinthians’ approach.
That said, I believe the churches -as local expressions of the universal church of all ages- must rethink roles, ministries, and functionality, realizing that everyone has a place within the body, regardless of age, background, previous training, or any such thing that today seems relevant.
Relevance, as seen in the Scriptures, is not provided by the method, the approach, the wording, or the position of preeminence -or its counterpart: inferiority- in the eyes of those who believe to have the know-how about advancing the church. Relevance is found in that “old rugged cross”.
I find it confusing -even disturbing- when I read all the adverts bombarding pastors and church leaders with suggestions or proposals the likes of “how to grow your church” or things like “the mistakes that today’s pastors make”. Most usually, those adverts propose to follow a structural approach taken from a world business model, while forgetting that it is the Lord who builds His church, and growth happens when saved souls are added to the church through the “foolishness of preaching” as the Scriptures say.
You can become perfect in ‘technicality” and state of the art equipment, colors, lights, stage presence, or social media reach -just to mention a few things- but if the message is not the plain Gospel you have lost the cutting blades. Nothing wrong about seeking to do the best we can and use any and all available technical stuff we can afford, but if the show itself has become the message, then you don’t have a church. Define it as you may or wish, it is not church.
In my travelling around, speaking about revival and the moves of God in history and present time around the world, I have been blessed to preach in places from a massive cathedral with all the old-fashioned looks and smells, to a hutch with incomplete walls and a piece of a cardboard to fan some air in sweltering weather: churches, hotels, tents, houses, open air, with a megaphone or with an incredible sound system. None of those things define church. What defines church is the message, that old fashioned message of the Gospel.
Relevance is in the message of the Gospel. Relevance is in the message of Christ. Relevance is in the lives of old and young alike whose lives have been changed by the Holy Spirit and follow Jesus.
Back to my starting point. When church functions as a body, just like the Scriptures say, there is room for everyone, regardless of age.
It is about time.
JC
Conrad Lampan e-mail: connect@conradlampan.com WhatsApp: +54 911 3663 2617 Facebook: Conrad Lampan Instagram: conradlampan TikTok: @conradlampan YouTube: @revivalhighway