We "Went to 'Church'" Today

It's been a looooooong time since we walked into a church building on a Sunday morning to, uh, go to church. 

We're into what today, apparently, is faddishly now called "micro." When we began it, it was called House Church, then, later, Simple Church. 

I can't account for how long ago we last "attended church." I will admit to watching a church, ouch, "service" on line from time to time but, even then, that was mostly during the "two weeks to flatten the curve" (Wasn't that a joke? The longest two weeks of MY life).

A friend of ours whom we've been disciplining or, as Lance would say, I've been fathering...we have been spiritually parenting...was showing slides of and discussing a mission trip to Uganda at her church. We went to support her.

Going was especially traumatic for Evie who has never really been edified by what passes as church services. Several times yesterday she let go, unconsciously, a long, heavy sigh. After the first one I asked what was vexing her. She said, "Church tomorrow," and after that, I understood. 

(Just a quick note: I don't think many church people realize how far the standard twenty first century church experience has diverted from what is biblical as far as the gathering of disciples is concerned, let alone what is essential to building up each other.) Doing the Sunday morning thing doesn't edify her. At best, it's a neutral influence on her walk. Worse case, it actually impairs her life of obedience. 

It's little wonder to us that the group called the "Nones" grows so rapidly. It's possible, easy in fact, to be all about Jesus and even to love His Body but to be unconnected to the organized and institutionalized church. 

Anyway, out of love for our friend Elizabeth, we went.

A few observations. 

1. There were about 125 people present. Evie and I may very well have been the oldest people there. Clearly, this was not a CGGC gathering. There were many of youth age, lots of twentysomethings and thirtysomethings. And, surprisingly, a lot of males...perhaps even more than females. I'm not sure how to account for that. Apparently, one of the things this group DOES is intentionally connect with people who commit felonies. Most felons, I suspect, are men, so...

2. This group is guilty of the same theological atrocity that most low church evangelical-ish groups commit. They call, and think of, their music time as "worship." That's not what worship is. In truth, in the New Covenant, to worship is to offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. (Rom. 12:1) I wore out the finger prints on several of my fingers typing that out and entering it on Brian Miller's Emerging CGGC blog back in the day. Anyway, they worshiped for about 20 minutes. Contemporary music. A five piece band. Not very polished but the members of the band seemed authentic in "leading worship," not performing. 

3. The sermon was topical, not expositional. It was broadly on spiritual warfare, I think. Again, the preacher oozed authenticity. He preached for about 45 minutes and then invited others to give testimonies, which several did. This is not an introvert church.

As you probably know, I believe that Jesus "gave some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists and others to be shepherds and teachers..." (Eph. 4:11) You can choose to think that that truth is no longer applicable to our day but when I listen to a sermon, it's usually easy to hear the fruit of an APEST calling. It's a bit of a hobby for me to examine APEST fruit in a preacher and sermon.

This guy was, to me, an interesting study. From word one he connected biblical truth directly to lifestyle. He had three points, of course. (After all, if a three point sermon was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me!). Anyway, in points two and three he declared specifically the necessity that we repent. And, shiver me timbers, when he commented on one of the testimonies, he quoted the verse I wear out on this blog, 2 Corinthians 7:10: "For godly sorrow produces a repentance that leads to salvation..."

Yikes! This guy is a prophet!

So,...

We went to church...to support Elizabeth. No doubt, we'll do that again...

I love Jesus. He still amazes me. I'm probably more in awe of His incarnation and our redemption through Him than I have ever been. 

I love the body of believers. I love the fellowship of the saints, but, the organized and institutionalized church? What it does when it gathers? Not so much.

I wish that the organized and institutionalized church edified us more. I  wish the usual church gatherings "spurred us on to love and good works" and promoted Romans 12:1 worship for us more than they do.

But, after today?...