3/21/15
Robert about 60
In an outreach conversation at the park I met Robert, a
brother in the Lord who came to Christ years ago through the preaching of the
lead pastor of our 22-site church, back in the early days when it was a struggling
congregation in a single church building in a backwater Chicago
neighborhood. Robert seems to be a
strong believer, but he seldom attends church these days. He struggles with bi-polar disorder, and
described his fear of sitting in public places like a church and suddenly
losing the ability to think rationally and breaking out in uncontrollable sobs. I could see his genuine frustration with his
disorder and with the struggle of wanting to be involved in church and not
being able to. And Robert is another of
many people lately who have me rethinking how we “do church.” For years I’ve been wondering if there might
be a better way for us to do church. I
thought there must be one best way, like the early church that met in
houses. But what I am concluding lately
is that with all the different expressions of the local church – and the many
new mega ministries that are not so local – God is doing some awesome
things. More and more I am realizing how
different people are – our different ages, cultures, personalities, learning
styles and family relationships – and how God has raised up a variety of
churches and ministries for us all. We
need many different points of entry, leading to Jesus, into God’s family. Many unbelievers point to the different divisions
and denominations as evidence that God’s church is divided and therefore not
legitimate, but I say it’s a beautiful thing.
God has even differences between believers – like the disagreement between
Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15 - to reach more people and bring them into His
Kingdom. So how did Robert grow in his
faith over the years without being able to attend a local church? Largely through TV ministries. To the extent that they are biblical and lead
people to Jesus, God has raised up life-giving churches and ministries to carry
out His Great Commission, and people like Robert are becoming faithful and
obedient disciples of Jesus. We have
much to be thankful for!
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