When the Church is No Longer the Church
March 18, 2005 Posted by Roger Overton
In discussion of an earlier post I pointed out my concern for churches who divide social action from the teaching of the Gospel (and really all of the other functions of the church). Today a friend handed me an article clipped from Daily Breeze, March 12, 2005. The article details the active ministry of the Church of the Beach Cities in Manhattan Beach, CA. Here’s some excerpts:
Beach cities ministry organizes walk-a-thon to help others
The list of potential beneficiaries is long, and it continues to grow: the homeless; youth programs; prison outreach programs; convalescent homes; unwed mothers; drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs; domestic and international disaster relief; and people with HIV and AIDS.
The church also plans to set up a holiday fund to help needy families during Thanksgiving and Christmas, provide free car and home repair for those who can't afford it and provide free counseling, parenting classes and marriage enhancement seminars…
“It's our responsibility to provide youth programs and activities that will encourage and keep them away from drinking and drugs…If this is successful, just think of what a great example we'll be to other communities out there.”
“This has nothing to do with being a Christian; you don't even need to believe in God to participate in this,” he said. “If you love people and you're willing to help those in need, that's all that matters.”
As I stated earlier, I think social action is a good thing. What I’m opposed to is social action in lieu of the Gospel and every other purpose of the church. This is a prime example of divorcing social action from everything in such a way that the group is no longer church- it is a non-profit charity/relief organization.
Upon visiting the church’s website I found that one of their missions is “to educate God’s people.” Unfortunately no where do they tell us what they’re teaching, who God is, etc. The only thing we can find out from the website is that they believe in God. From what the site says, this church may not even be Christian.
From the “About Us” page- “Do you think attending church should be enjoyable and relevant? Well, we have great news for you! Church of the Beach Cities is a new church designed to meet your needs. We are a group of friendly people who have discovered the joy of living the Christian Life!”
What happened to the church being designed to reflect Christ and the Word of God? It all got lost in an over emphasis on personal experience.
Related posts:
- The Purpose of Church Part II: What is it for?
- Is Church for Non-Believers?
- What is the Emergent Church?
- The Purpose of Church Part I: What is It?
- The Corporate Church- An Emerging Church Update
- The case for church membership
Posted in Main Page, Roger's Posts, Theology
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April 3rd, 2005 at 11:14 pm
by B.A. (Bad Attitude) Baracus at 04:33PM (PST) on Mar 18, 2005
The church of the 20th century, in a nutshell, is becoming more and more “man-centered” and less and less “Christ-centered”. This explains the problems of sloppy doctrine, and sloppy thinking. I expect nothing less then the death of the church if we the church, the body of Chirst continually live for our ownselfs instead of selfless selfs. We need to continue to reform our lives with the Word of God, and apply it in “all” areas of life, only then will we see churches began to changed “Godward” instead of “Manward”(notice the capital “M” for manward).
I wonder if it's because we the body of Christ are so man centered that be man centered inhibits us, the body of Christ from being persecuted? When we look at Africa, the Church is being so badly persecuted it's almost impossible for us in the United States ever imagine us going through such things. But is not the Church called to be persecuted? Is not Africa a prime example of where the Holy Spirit is most at work? How else can we explain people in Africa giving their lives for Christ' sake? Would the majority of the Western church go through what Africa is going through right now?
Just a little food for thought. Until next time, may God be with all of His elect.