The Design of Church Part 3

Part three
How should a “church” be designed? If you’ve read part one and part two of this series, you’ll see a picture emerging, I hope. The church has a very specific purpose. That purpose has never changed, not from the first moment God Himself instituted a gathering of His people. The purpose is twofold. One; to glorify God through Worship and draw closer to Him. Two; to be the place (not A place, but THE place) where Gods people are instructed, equipped, encouraged and empowered to fulfill Gods purpose for their individual lives and the life of the Body of Christ as a whole, with an eye on being examples to the rest of the world so they, too, will know that He is God!

Right about now, I could go into a long dissertation about what the church isn’t about – but I can cut this short by saying it this way – we ‘ve got it wrong in our current church system. We’ve made it all about being a “showplace” for we the people of God, rather than GOD! It’s about “our music, our teaching ability, our drama productions, our classes, our programs, our Pastors and every other type of “title” we’ve been able to think up! It’s about our worship – not WHO is worshiped! It’s about “us, us, us” and all done making us feel very good about ourselves because we claim it’s all done in His name, supposedly for His sake.

Take a good hard look at the words in modern “worship” songs and you’ll see what I’m talking about here. Too many of them are all about “look at ME as I’m worshipping God” and we’re convinced that pleases God if we experience some moving emotion, but the reality is, it’s all about us Us US.

Too many church services are all about the musicians, the Pastors and all the other distractions that keep us from actually doing the work the church was called by God to do. Equipping the Saints – not to glorify their own accomplishments, gather plaques on their walls, lay claim to great fame – but to go out into the world and call others to obedience in Christ to the God who Created them!

I know this is an unpopular idea and isn’t designed to “fill our churches” with tithing souls that fund continuation of our programs and services. Truth seldom sits well in the heart and mind of those who are not actively seeking it with humility. OUCH! That’s us Us US! Like it or not, we have become the “Pharisee’s “ of our time!

BUT THERE IS HOPE! If we are willing to let go of our agenda and welcome Gods agenda.
Stay tuned. And as always, you are very welcome to comment.