CHAPTER 7 - SUPERNATURAL CHURCH
I had plans on doing this final post last weekend, but sinuses and life events sometimes get in your way. That stated, let's jump in and wrap this one up.
...We've created a whole brand of churches that do not depend on the Spirit, a whole culture of Christians who are not disciples, a new group of "followers" who do not follow. If all God asked for were faceless numbers to fill churches, then we would be doing all right....simply having a good speaker, a service that is short and engaging, a good venue, and whatever else we add to the mix does not make a "good" or a "successful" church. - p. 143
Not only does this fly in the face of all that I was taught in most of my IFB training, but it also is completely contrary to much of what passes for "church" in the United States today.
All that most of us seem to be concerned with is: how many were in church for this service; how good is the speaker (did he stick to the allowable 23.54 minute "GodTalk"?); was the service under the 60 minute allowance; was the service powerful, flashy and exciting enough; how nice is our facility or can we get a loan to build a better one; were the offerings enough this week?
God is not interested in numbers. He cares most about the faithfulness, not the size, of His bride. - p. 143
Well, that'll choke the life out of some people. Who cares about faithfulness today? Not many. Can you bring in a crowd? What kind of tricks can the minister do? That's what's important. Be a glorified Las Vegas act.
Sometimes I leave Christian events wondering if we resemble the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18 more than Elijah, the prophet of God. ...The prophets of Baal had a loud, passionate worship gathering that lasted from morning to evening. When they were done they had a great time of fellowship (I think you can call it that). "But no one answered; no one paid attention." - p.143-144
In our efforts to be more relevant (whatever that means), we've become more concerned with appearances, attitudes, personalities and entertainment than we are about the hearts and minds of those who gather at our so-called services.
Churches we build only by our own efforts and not in the strength of the Spirit will quickly collapse when we don't push and prod them along. - p.155
Which is exactly why many "churches" shrivel up and die after an ego-centric pastor leaves or dies.
By and large Forgotten God was good. It convicted me, made me think, and confirmed some of my thinking. But. Yeah, here's the but. But, it falls short were so many other books fall short: I'm given a problem without a solution. I'm not told what to do to fix the problem. Where's the solution? Yes, I know it's implied. But how? Despite that, that's my only gripe. It's definitely worth a read. I only hit the highlights (to me), so reading my posts doesn't count as you having read the book.
That's all. Have you read this book yet? If so, what are your thoughts? I'd love to read them and discuss them with you here in the comments, via email or on the DarthBaptistReads twitter account.
Stay tuned for more books that Darth Baptist Reads.
Thanks for reading,
Darth Baptist
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