When opportunity knocks...

2 Thessalonians 3:1 "Pray that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you."

"There is great opportunity right now for the church to spread the word of God in the world and to bring those who are in darkness into light."

I am convinced that this statement is true, not just now, but always. We live in a broken world full of broken people...broken people who want to be made whole. I have been thinking a lot about this recently, and I think that if these people can't find the way to truth, the problem isn't them, it is the church. If we aren't connecting with people, we're not using the right words.

The Word of God is eternal--but the vast majority of what the church does to connect to the world isn't directly mandated in the Word. I am not aware of a directive that says this is what the church should look like--other than; it should be the temple of the Holy Spirit, the bride of Christ, the children of God in one body, united in worship. But the worldly part of us wants to be right, and wants to be in charge. We want everyone to look like us(whoever us may be). And so when the church reaches out to the world I think we try to transform the world into the image of our fathers rather than the image of our Father.

There are a lot of calls to lots of things in the Bible. But as far as I know there isn't anywhere in the Bible where it says that you have to sing a couple songs then pass the offering plate, then have a sermon then sing another song, and all stand up and sit down on cue. There also isn't any place in the Bible that I am aware of that it says that we should divide the church along racial and economic lines. I'm just sayin is all...

But back to my original point. There is a great task and opportunity to sow and reap. Now. But the church has to be willing to reach out to people who wouldn't be caught dead in most churches in this country. It has to be willing to reexamine what it means to worship. and ask the questions: Is the performance we put on every Sunday morning enough? Are we called to be a theater? Or is there something more we should be aiming for?

Don't get me wrong. The message can't change. The gospel is for all time. And the Word is eternal. But it just seems like sometimes we get the delivery all wrong.