and they say we are confusing
i was speaking with a pastor from a southern baptist church the other day about some of the things i do not care for about the modern church, when it hit me that the same thing they push on us about being "confusing," is exactly how they are - they make some of the most confusing statements ever. let me give some examples:
"the priesthood of all believers" - this is so not what they believe, but it is a standard line in many of the "evangelical churches" in our world. they claim that anyone who follows jesus is a "priest." i was speaking with my friend and asked if that meant that anyone in the church could baptize another person, he said "yes, with training." ok, what about weddings? can anyone perform a wedding? he said, "no, that person needs to be ordained as an elder." ok, what about serving communion, can anyone serve communion? "no, that requires the person be an elder." ok, what about preaching, can anyone preach from the pulpit? "no, they would need to be approved by a board of elders" - so i said that what they believed was in a "limited priesthood of some believers." he did not take too kindly to what i was suggesting :)
"the church is open to all people" - this one is my fav, because it is so not what they say. what most churches in american mean is that the church is open to most people who are saved first. when i asked my friend about this, he said that the church was for those who were saved. he said that if you were not saved, you could not be part of "the church." he explained that what they mean is that anyone who is saved is welcomed into the church - so, they say one thing and mean another?
i am sure there are many others, but these are the two we hit on in our conversation.
pax
1 comment:
This concept of the Church being for everyone. I often feel that the thing we so often do on Sundays that we call 'church' is maybe best left for believers. When it's not we end up trying to 'design' it for 'seekers' and get on the marketing deal. We tell all our people to 'bring your unsaved friends and get them saved' and we measure our success by the numbers of hands raised at alter calls etc. Maybe we should see Sunday Church as a place anyone can come to but we aim always at believers, but "We the Church" leave this place and head out to "be the Church" and rub our faith naturally against others we live around, we lead them to see and know Christ, rather than thinking something magic happens when they walk in to "Church". You know "leave that saving stuff to the professional, what else do we pay them for?"
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