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Community Church Movement Introduction:
I saw a flier reading, “Fun and games at the local park” it was sponsored by
the community church. Over the last
20 years a new religious philosophy has developed called the “community church
movement.” In a time of declining
membership in many denominations this movement has shown great growth.
We want to understand this movement, and see what lessons we can learn. I)
A)
Define 1.
Strict dictionary definition reads: an independent or denominational church in a particular
community. 2.
Service to God is seen in meeting community needs. 3.
The commonality is a belief in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
4.
They stress they are non-denominational but more true is they in
inter-denominational. 5.
Worship services tend to be causal and aimed at entertainment more than true
worship. Slogans such as “A church
for people who do not like church” and “The flock that rocks” show their
attitude. 6.
The following is found on the
a. They state their belief in the Bible as the inspired word of God.
b. The Holy Spirit guides believers in understanding and applying the
Bible.
c. Salvation is completely a word of God’s free grace; it is not in any
way the result of human works of goodness. B)
Examples 1.
a
Here’s the top five answers:
i. Churches are always asking for money
ii Church services were boring and lifeless
iii. Church services were predictable
iv. Sermons were irrelevant to daily life in the real world
v. The preacher made people feel guilty or ignorant, so they leave church
feeling worse than when they entered the doors. b.
Will Creek then did a survey to find out what the community wanted its church to
provide.
i. Shelter to the homeless, along with food, and clothing
ii. C.A.R.S. is a ministry where they repair cars that have been donated
and give them to single mothers and other needy people
iii. Promiseland – children from newborn to grade 5 have a play period
while their parents are in worship services.
iv. PromiseTown – day care service during the week for $1.50 an hour. c.
Willow Creek now has over 21,000 members.
The Willow Creek Association consist of 13,000 member churches, from 90
denominations, in 45 countries. c.
It facility looks more like a campus; includes a 352,000 sq. ft. building; 120
acres, and annual budget of over $20 million dollars.
2.
o
Security
3.
4.
Key: each one of these churches really depend on their “Pastor” rather than
the Gospel of Christ. Take Rick
Warren from Saddleback, Bill Hybels from Willow Creek and what would happen? B)
Appeals to younger people not interested in doctrinal issues 1.
Many today are not interested in doctrine; they can not tell you 10 basic points
of doctrine that distinguishes their denomination from another. 2.
Emphasis on feelings and physical pleasure or comforts. Charismatic
movement with religious zeal but without knowledge, Romans
10.1-2 3.
Sermons are kept short and relaxed. 4.
Entertainment, recreational activities, the social gospel are all a part of what
they offer. 5.
Baby boomers makes up the largest portion and they want a non-judgmental
religion. Very little personal
commitment is wanted; they are comfortable with no one knowing their name. C)
Doctrine 1.
Most are not affiliated with a denomination or downplay their denominational
ties 2.
Tend to believe salvation is by grace only and the eternal salvation of the
believer. Also believe the Holy
Spirit leads then separate from the word of God.
a. Accept homosexual couples, couples living together outside of
marriage. Contrary to Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 6.9ff
b. Members are called “seekers” in the sense of seeking others for
Christ.
c. Services are called “seeker services” 3.
They practice unity in diversity and not true unity, 1 Corinthians 1.10 4.
The apostles would not be allowed to preach at a community church, Titus 2.1 5.
They see numerical growth as proof of their doctrinal, Matthew 7.13-14 6.
Their pattern is any successful community church, 2 Timothy 1.13 D)
Worship 1.
Contemporary worship services, casual, performance groups, television programs
as used for lesson material 2.
Emphasis is on quality presentation – professional speakers, song leaders,
great sound systems, video presentations, etc. II)
Lessons To Be Learned A)
The Bad 1.
The desire to be like everyone else, 1
Samuel 8.5. Their size is appealing but it is not based on doctrine or God
but upon men such as Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, and Joel Osteen. 1
Corinthians 3.11 2.
Their doctrine is based on popular opinion and not God’s word, Galatians 1.6-9. In many cases it is plain wrong.
a. Wrong plan of salvation, faith only and not faith plus obedience.
b. Instrumental music in worship
c. Down playing sin
d. Tolerance is a virtue of people who do not believe in anything. 3.
They are making the church just another business, 2
Peter 2.12-17; John 2.16 4.
Casual attitude toward serving God is seen in their casual attire.
I am not one to prescribe to a “address code” at services but we must
be sure that we come with the proper attitude toward God.
1 Peter 1.16 We are approaching the throne of God in worship and we
should keep that in mind. B)
The Good 1.
Growth is a product of effort,
if we want to grow we have to reach out and teach people. The
power is in the Gospel and not ourselves, Romans
1.16.
a. Preaching to a particular group of people is not wrong.
Paul preached to the gentiles, Galatians
2.2 but his message also applied to the Jews.
b. We need to remember who we are trying to reach, the un-churched. 2.
Relevance is necessary in preaching the word of God.
Unfortunately what a lot of people think of being relevant is irrelevant.
Relevance is our soul and relationship to God.
a. Social sins such as drinking, premarital and extra-marital sex,
immodesty among members, drug addiction, foul language, etc.
Are all relevant topics but not real popular.
b. Our responsibilities to each other and the church are relevant.
What God expects of us in our marriages, as parents in training our
children, condemning false religion and sin are all relevant topics but not very
popular.
c. Relevant preaching needs to be done,
Acts 20.20 3.
We must realize many people have no denominational ties.
The growth of many community churches comes by getting people to leave
their denomination. This means we
may be able to reach them since they have not been indoctrinated. 4.
A lot of people are put off by denominationalism.
They don’t like the clergy/laity system.
This means they should appreciate what we have. 5.
The language we use may be unknown to many of these people.
a. Liberal and conservative means something totally different to the
people of the world
b. Adultery, fornication, lasciviousness, worship, is words that mean
very little to these people.
c. Soundness is not the same thing as being contentious or dogmatic. Conclusion:
The growth of the first century church was a result of the preaching of the
Gospel. Its growth or lack of growth
neither proved its validity or disprove it.
The same goes for us today. But
we can be assured that there are people who will listen and obey God’s word if
they hear it. |