Translations? I think there are several good ones and several not so good – and some poor ones – and some that are paraphrases rather than translations, which I don’t think is a great idea when dealing with the Word of God. I have used several over the years. Right now I am using the New King James Version and this is what we are using on the website. It is a good translation, is generally understandable for any age group and is fairly close to the wording of the King James Version which is still the most familiar to those believers over the age of 50 or so.

I will be glad to look at your site.

Thanks, again.

This may just be true of language in general. Consider the word gay for example (or a handful of others that I can’t recall right now). Over time, words change meaning and connotation as the context in which they are used changes.

I think that this would include words like “church.” Does it matter if you call something a “church” as much as your gathering ACTS like a biblical church? I think that how the Body of Christ in the West responds to this question will determine the fate of organized Christianity.

Thanks for your comments.

I wanted to take a moment to respond to a few of your comments and observations.

“Jesus came to save the lost”:
I think most of us would understand that Jesus came to save the lost (although this is being challenged in some quarters). I was saved when I was 26 and I am thankful that he is still in the business of changing lives.

“Jesus was always on the move”
This is true, but the churches in the New Testament were established local assemblies that met regularly for fellowship, mutual encouragement and ministry, learning the Word of God, breaking bread, and worship. However, Jesus’ ministry was prior to the birth of the church, and his pattern of ministry was both itinerant and under the Law. Therefore, although immeasurably important, it was not intended to be a pattern for the specific function and ministry of the local church.

“Jesus never stayed in one place long enough…”
Again, true, but this doesn’t have any direct bearing on what the church should be like. Once the tabernacle was in the land, it was in one location. The temple was obviously in one location. The synagogues were in a specific location in each town. And most of the New Testament letters were written to fellowships of believers – local churches – all in fixed specific locations. Paul’s ministry was largely itinerant, too – but his ministry was not the pattern for local church ministry. Rather he established local churches – and returned to them whenever he was back in town.

“If we are following Jesus, we won’t be satisfied to gather together in a “Holy huddle” and sing “Kum Baya.”
I have never encountered anyone who thought that this is what the Christian life should be. I don’t think I implied something along this line – at least I didn’t intend to. And as an international missionary for 16 years, a significant part of my adult life was devoted taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. On the other hand, we do read (specifically in the context of a discussion on the local church) that we should be ” speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19).

“We want to be inclusive so that lost people can come and investigate the claims of Jesus without being made to feel dirty or less than human.”
Ministry to the lost never includes stating things in such a way so as to make anyone “feel dirty.” In the 25+ years that I have been a believer I have never heard a message that was designed to do this – nor have I ever met anyone (at least with any spiritual maturity) in any church who sought to make this happen – or even someone who didn’t go out of their way to make sure this didn’t happen.

“Our Sunday church is comprised of 75% non-believers”
It is great to hear that the believers in your area are consistently ministering to the lost by showing the love of Christ through kindness, hospitality and clearly presenting the gospel. However, the main point of my post was to focus on the primary purpose of believers meeting together as the church – fellowship, edification and worship – none of which non-believers can truly participate in in a biblical way – and this will almost certainly make them feel uncomfortable to some degree. And if we design meetings specifically to help the lost feel comfortable – or to keep them from feeling uncomfortable – then to that degree we will probably have to diminish the very things we, as believers, are supposed to be doing when we gather together as the church. Of course we can have meetings targeted toward the lost – but that’s not really church – and when we confuse the two we give up a crucial aspect of life as part of the Body of Christ.

In His Care,
Dave

When they wanted to build a monument to commemorate the appearance of Elijah and Moses, Jesus had no part with that idea. The little thing that we do on Sunday morning (or whenever) is not “the church.” The church is the bride, waiting for the bridegroom to return. But waiting in ways that will help us to be ready when He does. We are not the “wife” of Jesus. We are the bride in the sense of the bethrothed, waiting for the bridegroom who has gone to prepare a place for us and is expecting us to be getting ready for His return. Waiting expectantly. But not waiting idly.

If we are following Jesus, we won’t be satisfied to gather together in a “Holy huddle” and sing “Kum Baya.”

The idea of being “a church for people who don’t like church” is nothing against those who are not that kind of church. We just want to actually follow Jesus. We want to accept people as they are and help them to come one step closer to God. We want them to “come and see” as Jesus said (recorded in John more than once). We want to be inclusive so that lost people can come and investigate the claims of Jesus without being made to feel dirty or less than human. Outsiders.

Actually, Jesus never stayed in one place long enough to become what we think of as a “church” today.

Unfortunately, Barna also records the statistics about new believers. Within a pathetically short time after their “regeneration,” they have no non-Christian friends anymore. Their idea of salt and light is more a question of rubbing salt in the wounds of the non-Christians and shining the spotlight into the eyes of the hurting.

Our Sunday church is comprised of 75% non-believers and 25% believers who are loving the lost and praying for them. We do everything possible to make them feel loved, while holding forth the Gospel as an uncompromising message of God’s holiness and their need to repent, accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and to join us in the mission of establishing the kingdom of God in our lives.

We are passionately committed to living as Jesus lived. Following His example and His teaching.