The Church of the Living God

In 2nd Corinthians 5, we are identified in this manner:
20Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.21For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Because we have a relationship with Christ and His presence is in our lives, we become to the people we come in contact with the visible, tangible manifestation of the living God.   That's a huge responsibility, but God assures us that we are up to the task - actually, better said, Christ in us, the hope of glory, is more than sufficient.   Because if Christ is our life - and He is, because we have made Him our Lord and Savior - then we can express that life and His character as we yield to Him working through us.    Individually, as believers, and collectively, as the church, we are called to reflect His glory.

In 1st Timothy 3, Paul is addressing the church, its leadership, and its function.   He says:
14These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly;15but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.16And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.

This past week, as I shared about the artifacts from closed churches stored away in a giant warehouse.   I commented on how God can bring dead things to life - if our walk with God is in decline, He is the One who can reinvigorate us.

While on the subject of churches that have closed, which is truly a sad occasion, I came across some blog posts from LifeWay President Thom Rainer regarding churches in decline.   In the post, "Very Sick Churches", he says here are some of the indicators of a church in decline:

• Significant numerical decline over the past ten to twenty years. Most of the time we measure worship attendance for this metric.
• Prolonged times of apathy. Occasional times of intense conflict. The church seems more apathetic than anything else, but conflict can arise with surprising intensity.
• The church is not known in the community. Ask a clerk at a store in the community. You may be surprised how few even know the church exists.
• New members are rare. The exodus clearly exceeds the inflow.
• Revolving door of pastors. Frustration and conflict limit the years of pastoral tenure.
• The “good old days” are typically twenty or more years in the past. There has been a long season since anyone felt really good about the church.

He estimates that 40% of churches in America, or around 150,000, are in the state of being "very sick".

Rainer is writing a book called, Autopsy of a Deceased Church.    In wanting to leave readers with some hope, he posted again on the subject later this week. He wanted to leave some practical hope for reversal, which he says is "...possible, but God usually waits for a willing leader who will find willing people. Indeed, some of the readers in the last post shared such great stories of hope and leadership

He goes on to pose four broad categories for church leaders and members if their church is very sick:

1. The church must admit and confess its dire need. Most churches move toward death because they refuse to acknowledge their condition. Sometimes a single leader will be used of God to move the church in this positive direction.
2. The church must pray for wisdom and strength to do whatever is necessary. The change will not be easy. Many will resist it.
3. The church must be willing to change radically. Frankly, this point is usually the point of greatest resistance. The church has to change decades of cumulative problem behaviors in a very short time.
4. That change must lead to action and an outward focus. When a church begins to act positively with this radical change, it has essentially become a new church. It is not the church of old that refused to change and move forward.

Last week, you heard from the "Church Hoppers", who go in to try to address issues that are holding churches back, in order to hopefully reinvigorate the pastor and the congregation.   They offer some small suggestions in a graphic called, "7 Ways to Invigorate Your Church".   Those 7 ways are:

1 - Think curb appeal.
2 - Cleanliness is next to godliness.
3 - Look to the cross.   In other words, make the cross the centerpiece of your service consistent with the church's identity
4 - Roll tape!  Some music or video content prior to a service can bring energy.
5 - "And everybody said..."  We're reminded that church is not a spectator sport.    The pastor is encouraged to get those in attendance involved.
6 - And a little child shall lead them.  Find ways to get children involved in the services, too.
7 - Be a spiritual Starbucks.  The premise is that you can spend more on coffee and leave a good taste in everybody's mouth, they say.

I think they're saying that little things do matter in the worship experience, and sometimes we have to appeal to the physical to get to the spiritual.  

Three short takeaways:
1 - There may be individual churches that are dying, but the church of the living God is very much alive because the power of God is evident in and among those who truly bow the knee to Christ.
2 - God wants to bring dead - or dying - things to life.  He will reinvigorate our spiritual life and can reverse the course of our churches who may have lost their way.
3 - A church and each person need to identify our God-given roles for accurately representing Jesus and communicating His truth.   We are His representatives in the world today, so we can ask how best we can reflect Jesus to our culture.