So, carrying on from my post the last 2 day, this will be the final instalment of my posts coming from my original post 3 Things The Church Could do different, IMO.

So let me start off by saying that I love structure. I am the type of personality that does not make it, if there is not a logical plan in place to do something. But…

When it comes to the work of the Lord, and church, I have been challenged to step out of the box of predictability, and to let the Holy Spirit surprise me, if He feels like it.

This has, on many occasions, since this challenge came to me, led me to be frustrated with the church, when there is an obvious need to just keep on worshipping or to just let the congregation sit and pray together, even if that means the sermon is not going to happen, the pastor making the decision to preach in any case.

The little church box of doing a sermon, worship at the start, sermon, collect the tithe, sing maybe another song, go home, simply does not work for me any more. We need to be open to the workings of the Holy Spirit, and when everybody can feel that we need to keep on worshipping, because that is what is needed for today, we need to do just that. Next week, that need might not be there, and then we can do a sermon in the old traditional way.

I really think the church needs to rethink the whole strategy on putting a service in a box, if you have not gathered that already.

I sometimes feel we are missing out on SO much by doing this, and imagine what could happen if we allowed the Spirit to work in His way, and not in our way?

John 2:13-22 (NIV)

¹³When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”¹⁷His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”^[b]

¹⁸Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

¹⁹Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

²⁰The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” ²¹But the temple he had spoken of was his body. ²²After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

This post will have some relevance to a post I wrote earlier about being Nice, and comes from my post yesterday about the 3 Things the Church could do different.

The question for me is, why are we as Christians always afraid to step on other Christians’ and non believers’ toes?

If we look at the passage in the beginning, it is clear that Jesus had no qualms about be very blunt about the fact that He did not like what was going on.

There is also numerous other incidents in the gospels where Jesus would go face-to-face with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and pretty much crush their toes.

The church has become so focussed on keeping numbers in the church building that they have stopped to preach about the unexplainable, like where the angel of the Lord came and freed Paul from prison, or when Phillip was walking and the next moment he was standing in another town. When last have you heard a sermon on these topics?

I really feel that the church should start preaching more on the supernatural happening, spiritual warfare etc.

How do you think?

As I mentioned in my previous list post 3 Things the Church could do different, IMO I am now going to focus on the first thing, as promised.

The bigger church, especially in South Africa, tends to focus on teaching the people that already come to church. With this I am not saying that all the people in the church building is a reborn Christian, but if not, they will be in the minority.

Churches focus on creating great content for the sermons, great worship for the sermon and getting everything just right for the people that will come to the service. They will create sermon series with catchy titles, create great video introductions for the series, etc.

Churches will spend thousands, or millions, if they have that much, to have the best gear in the building. HD projectors, the biggest and best sound equipment and great lighting.

But I can’t help but ask the question, should this money not be used for uplifting the poor, orphans and widows? For getting missions started that will reach out and preach the gospel to the unsaved on the street, or in the house next door? Use this money to equip your people to be able to really spread the gospel, and not have to feel like they know too little of the Word to actually go out and speak to a stranger.

This is something that has been nagging me for the last couple of weeks, and it really gets me hot under the collar when I really sit down and think about it.

Yes, I love my church, I serve at my church. Yes I serve the very saved that I feel should be replaced with the unsaved.

I do however know that I have a calling on my life to go up in Africa and to serve orphans. Money is just a big issue, since this needs to be done out of pocket, and the time has not yet arrived for me to get into a Cruiser and drive the distance to get to where I will eventually end up at.

Will I still feel like this about the church come the time that I leave the church, and move out in faith?

I sincerely hope not…