Along with this I believe that the church should draw itself back to the ideals of the original Biblical church instead of curbing it towards culture. I agree completely with Derek Web when he said that the church doesn't have to be dressed in culture's cloths. She'll reach the people fine on her own. The scripture speaks of a church that was so much more community oriented than the present church. Churches shared everything, even personal posessions, with all of their members as a community. What is more, the church does not have to focus so much on culture if its eyes are completely on God. Afterall, God can do much more to increase the congregation size with quality AND quantity than can a snazzy power point presentation or a multi-million dollar sound system. I'm not saying the church should be constructed only out of wood and everyone should wear robes and sack cloth or anything to that extreme. I'm just saying that modernization can be misleading and a distraction for a church body. Simply take caution.
Finally, the third thing that I pray would change among the church is the prioritization of evangelism. The church congregation was not meant to be the point of evangelism, but a place of cultivation of believers. When a church focuses too much on bringing the unsaved through the doors, it neglects the current members, failing to feed them more than spiritual milk for the entire duration of their Christian lives. Internal should be cultivation, and when they walk out the door, they would better be prepared to evangelize. Quality not quantity. A side-effect of this would be alot less sermons on evangelism. Evangelism is not a conscious effort but a side-effect of a God persuing lifestyle. Let me say, before you read on, that this is a very sensative subject as I do not completely understand how God moves. His means of evangelism are broad and beyond my understanding, but I personally do not believe that we are to go out and hunt down non-Christians and then slam them in the face with the news. But here's a though. Shouldn't we always be vigil for regions that have never heard the gospel? I'd have to say yes to that. But it's all about delivery. I believe that man is to focus completely on Christ, therefore making his life a constant and brilliant living testamony of the gospel that would draw others as a result. I know that alot of Christians feel burdoned and guilty that they do not find people every day and tell them about Christ. This is not to say that they shouldn't, but more to say that they are focusing on the wrong aspects of their walk. The closer they are in their walk with Christ, or maybe better said, the more Christ-like they become, the more natural evangelism will become and the more prepared they will be to share the truth accurately.
Anyways, that is how I feel about the state of the church. It's future is not bleak but brilliant, and I believe that God will continue to mold it to his immage whether that be something similar to how I feel or whether it be completely different. But above all else I ask you not to take what I write here as a teaching. This is a journal and I merely write the thougths of my mind and heart here. They may not be accurate and you should consult someone spiritually wise and trustworthy before you grab on to what I'm chewing.
So the rest of the day... I went with Grant and Heather to a pizza place and then back to his house for a relaxing day of swimming. We then went to the Ghana picture swap where I received this picture:
It's a picture that was taken of me in Ghana leading a bunch of villagers to a church with my guitar. It's special to me because it was there that I realized the true power of my gift of music and that I should better train myself to use it for the glory of God rather than for myself. Certainly I do not think it is wrong to write a song to express myself. Those songs bless me. But I want to write songs that can bless other people as well.
In a related topic, my writer's block has crumbled for a while. I wrote two songs in the past six months and both of them were last night. I'm going to try to dedicate more time to writing good music.
Other than that... why am I still up? I've got to get up at 7:00 to get to work, so I'd better go to bed. I'll be sorry tomorrow, but I've got no worries. That is another result of today. I was able to just give God my list of troubles completely and not worry about anything. That is a lesson that I am currently trying to master. Hope you are doing well in your place. Peace and love.
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