Periodically, pastors read The Captivating Community and then ask us where to start putting their ideas into practice. Here are three meditations to consider:
1. Make your church an “nominal Christianity audit”.
- The captivating community refers to? Revealing gospel community – in a church where relationships bear witness to the power of the gospel.
- Because they would not exist and could not exist outside the gospel.
- This contrasts with the “evangelical aggregation” community.
- Where almost all relationships in a church can be explained by something in common besides the gospel.
The problem is that many of us build our churches through a community that adds the gospel. We use many other things besides the gospel to motivate people in our churches: great schedules, good music, good friendships with people who have things in common with you, etc. that is, those who confuse their sincere affinity for a certain morality, activity or social group with their personal, sincere and penitent faith in the world. Mr. Jesus.
Ask yourself: How does your church allow purely nominal Christians to live happily in a comfortable delusion?
2. Adjust your membership practices
The vision of The Captivating Community consists of an ecclesial community that is, of course, supernatural; we want churches that are giant and irrefutable arrows that indicate the power and mercy of Almighty God; however, unless its members engage with each other in some way. that confuses the world, its community will end up being like any other civilian organization. Since membership is a formalization of this biblical commitment, membership in your church must reveal three things:
3. Preach about the beauty and power of the local church.
A natural application of almost all scripture texts is the glory of the local church. There is a people that Old Testament Israel has emphasized, that Jesus consumed perfectly, that the New Testament church has inaugurated, is the people of God’s new covenant. Why does God love the church so much? Because it’s your visible glory. The church is as close as we are now to seeing the gospel with our eyes.
That is why Christians are called to churches, so that together they can demonstrate the beauty, power and grace of God through the gospel. Is it this vision of glory that will attract non-Christians to faith, to Christians who are asleep to wake up, and to Christians to fight to persevere Is that what motivates their congregation?Or are many of your banks full of consumers who are particularly interested in the church because of the set of products and services it offers?Proclaim me this glorious image of the church revealed in the scriptures. After all, Jesus gave his life for the church and forces us to do the same.
A quick note to conclude: let’s say that through an attraction-based ministry, you’ve managed to fill the banks of purely nominal Christians who for years have been excited about their spiritual consumerism, to some extent, this probably describes each church. , you must be prepared for some of these dear souls to leave your church. how quickly the changes will make and what the Spirit of God decides to do, this result may be small or more significant, but on the other side of this change, this cost is low compared to an ecclesiastical community that clearly demonstrates God’s power in the gospel, a community with supernatural appeal.
Translation: Camila Rebeca Almeida Review: William Teixeira © 2016 Faithful Ministério All rights reserved. Website: MinisterioFiel. com. br Original: How to Make Your Local Church a Captivating Community
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