Invisible Bibles in the Invisible Pews
What is a church without the phyiscal Word?
Sadly on my great church hunt I have been to more churches where the Bible is removed from the people. Where I sit with my Bible open and my blue scribbled notes covering the pages and I sit there and feel embarassed...feel out of place. All because I brought my Bible, and heavens no! I took it out when the pastor started preaching. This should not be!!!
I know there are a lot of churches out there who do still expect their congregation to bring their Bibles to church, who expect them to be read throughout the week and not collect dust. Most of the churches I've been going to are newer, emerging and very trendy. The passage is plastered onto big screens alongside the notes everyone should take. The teaching rarely moves from one passage in a book to another. Essentially there is no need for the Bible anymore.
In an attempt to draw more people in, to make them feel more comfortable God's infalliable Word, a fundamental backbone to our faith, is getting pushed aside, covered up. And this is a great tragedy. How do all these new believers, new attenders, old believers, anyone...how does anyone know what they are really being taught? Is the pastor preaching heresies? At one church I visited he most certainly was. Is the pastor misintrepting a key passage? At one church he was.
And worse than not allowing the congregation to follow in the way of the Bereans, it does nothing to inspire or convict one to read their Bible throughout the week. If the example is not set, the bar not raised why bother? No one will ask, there's no need to.
We, the American Church, are very priveleged. We are not the underground Church in China. Every believer in America can have multiple Bibles, and probably do! The Church in China maybe has one per church. It sickens me to see the path so many churches are starting to walk down.
There is a place for all of the churches within the Global church in Revelation 2 and 3. Sadly I condsider some of these new emerging churches, though they grow at alarming speed, have great programs, integrate art into worship, reach out to their surrounding community, yet they do no place a high enough importance on the Word...I consider them to be like the Ephsian church, forsaking their first love, or like the Laodicean church, becoming lukewarm just waiting to be spit out.
Psalm 119.
Sadly on my great church hunt I have been to more churches where the Bible is removed from the people. Where I sit with my Bible open and my blue scribbled notes covering the pages and I sit there and feel embarassed...feel out of place. All because I brought my Bible, and heavens no! I took it out when the pastor started preaching. This should not be!!!
I know there are a lot of churches out there who do still expect their congregation to bring their Bibles to church, who expect them to be read throughout the week and not collect dust. Most of the churches I've been going to are newer, emerging and very trendy. The passage is plastered onto big screens alongside the notes everyone should take. The teaching rarely moves from one passage in a book to another. Essentially there is no need for the Bible anymore.
In an attempt to draw more people in, to make them feel more comfortable God's infalliable Word, a fundamental backbone to our faith, is getting pushed aside, covered up. And this is a great tragedy. How do all these new believers, new attenders, old believers, anyone...how does anyone know what they are really being taught? Is the pastor preaching heresies? At one church I visited he most certainly was. Is the pastor misintrepting a key passage? At one church he was.
And worse than not allowing the congregation to follow in the way of the Bereans, it does nothing to inspire or convict one to read their Bible throughout the week. If the example is not set, the bar not raised why bother? No one will ask, there's no need to.
We, the American Church, are very priveleged. We are not the underground Church in China. Every believer in America can have multiple Bibles, and probably do! The Church in China maybe has one per church. It sickens me to see the path so many churches are starting to walk down.
There is a place for all of the churches within the Global church in Revelation 2 and 3. Sadly I condsider some of these new emerging churches, though they grow at alarming speed, have great programs, integrate art into worship, reach out to their surrounding community, yet they do no place a high enough importance on the Word...I consider them to be like the Ephsian church, forsaking their first love, or like the Laodicean church, becoming lukewarm just waiting to be spit out.
Psalm 119.
posted by KJ at
10:56 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home