The abdication of responsibility by the Church is humanity\u2019s greatest moral problem.<\/p>\n
First, I must state that I define the Church, in this context, as the entire body of believers<\/em>. \u00a0In particular I do not simply refer to the Church leadership or clergy, though they most certainly have their place in both the cause and solution of this problem.<\/p>\n Second is that I take presupposition that the Church, at large, has walked away from the responsibilities in which Christ has entrusted it. \u00a0While an examination of the cause and evidence of this is clearly beyond the scope of this essay, the following discussion of the solutions should also provide an inherent basis for the premise of wholesale abandonment of the Church\u2019s responsibilities. \u00a0Let\u2019s examine the solution to this dilemma from the aspect of the five-fold mission of the New Testament Church.<\/p>\n Worship<\/strong> \u2013 It is amazing to me the criticism one hears regarding a church’s worship service. \u00a0One person will complain about too much contemporary music, another about too many old hymns. \u00a0Some complain about the length of the sermon, others about how their needs are not being met. \u00a0The pastor wants \u201cgood numbers\u201d and the leadership is more concerned with putting on \u201cThe Jesus Show\u201d than with glorifying God. \u00a0Everyone complains because they just don\u2019t feel the Holy Spirit there anymore \u2013 like that\u2019s a big surprise? \u00a0He is the one Person who is NOT invited to the service it so often seems.<\/p>\n To correct this failure is not an easy thing. \u00a0It has to start in the pulpit and it is sure to not win any popularity contests. \u00a0The pastor needs to take back control of the service, where so many now have passed that along to the \u201cWorship Leader.\u201d \u00a0While there is a time in the service for the edification of the saints, it IS a Worship Service, after all, so it needs to focus on leading us in\u00a0corporate worship of our God, Lord, and Savior. \u00a0A good start would be to put the ego aside and both worship leaders (and that means everyone from the door greater to the pastor whole helps make the service \u201chappen\u201d) and the congregation member need to pray that their acts are a suitable offering to the Lord. \u00a0Worship is not about me. \u00a0It is not about you. \u00a0It is all about God. \u00a0The Church must return to that primary focus if it is to ever accomplish its mission.<\/p>\n Ministry<\/strong> \u2013 So many people today think that ministry is the task of the minister or the appropriate committee. \u00a0Ministry is so much more than that. \u00a0It is much more than even taking care of the elderly, sick and poor, though that is a good place to start this part of the discussion. \u00a0Far too often it is assumed that this is the Pastor\u2019s job. \u00a0The one who thinks that is simply wrong. \u00a0Yes, the Pastor has a role here, but by far this task should be the privilege<\/em> of the church body and be lead by the deacons. \u00a0The church leadership has the obligation to make this an expectation of the membership and the body has the obligation to cheerfully step forward. \u00a0Yet service to the needy is but one aspect of the bigger picture of ministry. \u00a0I would consider ministry to be service to the community in the name of my Lord, Jesus<\/em>. \u00a0As such I would also include good citizenship as a part of ministry. \u00a0Unfortunately, in Western civilization today it seems that to allow one\u2019s religious convictions \u2013 i.e. one\u2019s morals \u2013 to influence one\u2019s civic stance is cause for being outcast. \u00a0That the Christian would submit to this is nonsensical<\/em>, particularly when it is moral questions about which one is often asked to make civic decisions. \u00a0Again, it\u2019s a two-fold issue both from the leadership exhorting and the body responding.<\/p>\n Evangelism<\/strong> \u2013 This we find closely related to the problems in ministry. \u00a0Here commonly there is one of two issues. \u00a0Either evangelism is left to the church leaders or we expect the lost to come to us. \u00a0The Christian seems to have forgotten the \u201cgo forth\u201d part of the Great Commission. \u00a0An expectation needs to be made, if not demanded, of the membership to share the gospel. \u00a0Being a silent example should not be an accepted dodge for active evangelism. \u00a0Sure there are the “traditional” methods: letter writing, phone calling, tract placement and many other means for those who simply are unable to visit. \u00a0But there is also 1 Peter 3:15, “always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and respect.” \u00a0This verse sums up the essence of\u00a0evangelism\u00a0in my opinion.<\/p>\n The secular equation of sharing an opportunity to be pushing your world view on another needs to be broken. In this case, it will only be broken by active evangelism. \u00a0The other point to consider is that without evangelism, Church growth does not exist. \u00a0Shuffling memberships around between congregations is not<\/em> growth. \u00a0The Church only grows when people are saved.<\/p>\n Discipleship<\/strong> \u2013 This closely follows on the tail of evangelism, because it addresses the question of what happen to that new Christian? \u00a0It goes beyond that, as well, into how do we nurture and grow the older Christians. \u00a0This area includes equipping the members to perform the other expectations. \u00a0The church has the responsibility to ensure the equipping of the saints. \u00a0But the saints also have the responsibility to take advantage of the opportunities. \u00a0If the training and\/or mentoring exist, whether in the Bible Studies or specific classes and the members will not take advantage of it, it is their failure. \u00a0If one has a knowledge or talent that would edify and build up the church but refrains from sharing it, they are guilty of undermining the mission of the church.<\/p>\n Fellowship<\/strong> \u2013 Nobody was meant to do all these things alone. \u00a0This is why fellowship \u2013 Christian fellowship \u2013 is so incredibly important. \u00a0Without sharing the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives with each other we quickly become discouraged. \u00a0We have a moral responsibility to strengthen and sustain each other, but so often we just see each other at the Sunday morning service. \u00a0What a pity it is to waste that building so many hours of the day, so many days of the week. \u00a0The Christian needs to reclaim the church-house as a center of community activity.<\/p>\n All of these areas of abdication can be summed up in one word. \u00a0Indifference<\/em>. \u00a0Any pastor or church leader who fails to call the body upon these issues is guilty of indifference to the duties of their office. \u00a0Even worse, any member who fails to respond to this call is guilty of indifference to the Holy Spirit and to Christ, Himself. \u00a0There are some who seem to think that it is enough to write a check each payday. \u00a0However, Jesus could never be bought. \u00a0Remember that Jesus not only told the rich young ruler to sell his good and give to the poor, but also to come and follow him. \u00a0In other words, live the faith in your actions. \u00a0Only this \u2013 by the Church as a whole \u2013 can fix this greatest of moral\u00a0problems. \u00a0It is this indifference that has allowed things such as the outlawing of the Pledge of Allegiance, the gradual dismantling of the family, homosexual marriage, and now the removal of the Ten Commandments from society. \u00a0Have we as the Church not truly reaped what we have sown?<\/em><\/p>\n Laws. \u00a0Justice. \u00a0Morals. \u00a0These concepts are all based upon the knowledge of the Source of all goodness. \u00a0All the individual moral acts or codes ultimately rest upon the awareness of the great Source of all morality. \u00a0Without the acknowledgement of God and a place for Him in society any morality will soon collapse. God\u2019s established instrument for the communication with humanity is through the Church empowered by the Holy Spirit. \u00a0So if the church will not make a stand in the face of persecution \u2013 or worse, unpopularity \u2013 any hope of true morality stands doomed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The abdication of responsibility by the Church is humanity\u2019s greatest moral problem. First, I must state that I define the Church, in this context, as the entire body of believers. \u00a0In particular I do not simply refer to the Church leadership or clergy, though they most certainly have their place in both the cause and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ymfK-3A","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}