Vitamin Z has posted an excerpt from the book Total Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis.
here is an excerpt from the excerpt:
“The Bible calls the church a family. It describes the church as a community that shares together. The church is a body whose members perfectly fit together. We belong to one another. Our friend’s church was neither a family nor a community. It had no vision for involvement in its immediate community. The truth is, it was not really a church according to any New Testament definition. It was a preaching center. You drove to their large parking garage for your weekly dose of religion just as you traveled to the out-of-town supermarket for your weekly groceries.
How many of us attend “preaching centers” rather than churches? Do you? how would you know?
What would be some indicators that your “church” is or is not really a church?
What would be some characteristics of a “community that shares together”? Does your church have those characteristics?
What would some indicators be that your church is a body whose different members fit together perfectly and, more importantly, function together perfectly so that love and grace are consistently shown to any outsiders looking in? Does your church have those indicators?
Is your “church” involved in its local community; in its neighborhood, in its block, in its subdivision, in its city? Does it have any plan/goal/desire/vision to do so?
I think we have substituted preaching centers for churches all over this country. What do you think?
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