Friday, November 19, 2010

Dave Black on Extending the Reformation

A few years back Dave Black wrote an excellent essay about the importance of extending the Reformation beyond salvation to church practice.

He begins by saying, "The church meetings revealed in the NT were interactive, informal and small. Simplicity was the rule of the house-church meetings. Somewhere along the line (about the time of Roman Emperor Constantine’s Edict of Milan) we moved out of homes and into awe-inspiring, majestic 'sanctuaries' (which formally belonged to pagan religions). We exchanged interaction and mutual encouragement for monologue. Intimacy was lost as the masses gathered in huge lecture halls called cathedrals. Informality gave way to liturgy, pomp and ceremony. Church meetings became a spectator sport with the congregation watching a performance by the spiritually elite. In such an atmosphere, fulfilling 1 Co 14:26 became increasingly difficult. About all that could still be fulfilled was Eph 5:19b and Col 3:16b, so 'worship' became the primary focus of these performance shows."

Read the entire post here.

1 comment:

Aussie John said...

Eric,

You're so right. "...an excellent essay..." I'm more impressed with it now than when I first read it.

I'm as convinced as ever that the Church of Jesus Christ is safe for eternity, but I'm equally convinced that those who refuse to consider these matters are doomed to go the way of the dodo.

I believe that God is far from impressed with the religious games we have seen, and which, I'm sorry to say, I've been part of, for a large part of my lifetime.