To Be The Church...

...in a culture where the church has become something "you do" vs. something "you are." I have been prompted by the Spirit in the last few months to lead the congregation I pastor back to "being the Church." Now this may sound simple, but believe me when I say it takes shedding some old and new traditions that want us to conform to "doing church". It is clearly a Biblical concept that the Church is not something you "do", but something we "are". During the formative years of raising our children, we emphasized that the buildings where we met were simply that - buildings. They may have been deserving of more respect because of who met there, but they were certainly not "the Church" that Jesus formed and launched in to the world.

Think about it! Have we succumbed to trying to "do church" instead of "being the church" God has called us to be? We sometimes try to relegate God's great works to 9AM - 1PM on Sunday (longer/shorter for others), and 7PM - 9PM on Wednesday. Have we bought into the seeker-sensitive movement endeavoring to meet the needs of the sinner from the pulpit, instead of equipping the saints? What if we reversed this trend and instead focused as Jesus did on making disicples to minister in the world? What if these ministers were trained and equipped to walk in the annointing everyday of the week? I believe we would see a total transformation not only in the people of God, but in the true success of reaping a harvest.

In the last few months, God has led me back to the basics. Those spiritual disciplines that so many pass off as no longer needed. 2 Chronicles 7:14 is the scripture that God has driven in my thick skull, and the one that I'm trying to drive in the minds of Victory Fellowship Church. I have focused on prayer. Not pre-service prayer or even corporate prayer, but the prayer that Jesus emphasized the most - "closet prayer." We just finished up a series on fasting. Boy, was it a wake up call! This is a discipline that seems to have been forgotten by many, including myself. As I studied the scripture I soon realized that fasting, like prayer is not optional. Jesus fully expected his disciples to fast after he would leave the earth. As it is with most spiritual disciplines, you can read about it all day long, but it is not until you do it that it takes on a whole new meaning. I believe with all my heart that we are on the right track as a church.

I will finish with this story. A lady in our church went to the funeral of Bro. McManus in Greenville, TX, who recently passed away. Another lady in the Greenville church began telling her of the wonderful things that God had been doing in their church. She said, "Bro. Mcmanus was recently teaching from 2 Chronicles 7:14, and was emphasizing getting back to the basics." When she heard this, she let her know that she was very familiar with this scripture, because her pastor was also teaching from this scripture. When she stood and testified about this in our mid-week service, it was a confirmation that the Spirit is seeking to move His Church back to being what He has called them to be - "The Church!" May God help us to quit trying to "do church", and be "the Church" that the world is longing for!