tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4987271399653590272.post8284245989531134498..comments2023-10-29T19:03:11.547-04:00Comments on A Pilgrim's Progress: Church Simply: Why Get Together Anyway? Mutual EdificationErichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07306854704766653209noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4987271399653590272.post-22065704956276660342014-11-13T08:52:20.309-05:002014-11-13T08:52:20.309-05:00Corporate church leadership is beginning to panic ...Corporate church leadership is beginning to panic as they come to grips with the fact that every year millions of people are leaving their churches.<br /><br />Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like these leaders have a clue as to why so many people are leaving because they just continue their marketing efforts to lure people in with a Sunday morning extravaganza. <br /><br />The adage that the definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting different results rings true for the leaders who perpetuate a corporate church system. <br /><br />The problem for corporate church is that they continue to market a Sunday morning spectacle as their big selling point. That being the case, they will live or die by what they can offer people on Sunday morning that’s bigger and better than the church down the street. But if Sunday morning isn’t the answer to holding on to members and attracting new ones, making it more spectacular isn’t going to solve the problem. <br /><br />The statistics continue to show that the glitz and glamor of the lighted stage, rock bands, video productions and flamboyant speakers eventually becomes just an empty entertainment package to those who are truly seeking the Kingdom of God. So when the grand illusion called “church” today is seen for what it really is by those seeking the true Kingdom of God, they quickly become disillusioned and seek God’s Kingdom somewhere else.<br /><br />As with other big movements in the last decade, the Internet is proving to be a tough competitor to the corporate church. Not in the sense that the Internet is what people are exchanging their church experience for, but that the Internet is providing some answers to Kingdom seekers about what “church” is really supposed to be like. <br /><br />Like any other product or service in today’s marketplace that consumers find don’t perform as advertised, people will search the Internet looking for answers and to see if others are in the same boat. So people are finding more and more web sites and blogs like this one that address the issue of what “church” has become and what it was originally supposed to be according to scripture. And when they contrast today’s church with the biblical church, it’s a shock to their long held “religious” beliefs - that the simplicity of the biblical model of the church has become nothing more than a building marketed and advertised as a place where people meet on Sunday morning for an hour to be entertained and then pumped-up by a motivational preacher asking for money and encouraging them to come back next week for more of the same.Neil Braithwaitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08036100283607430305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4987271399653590272.post-14485575865372480782014-11-12T15:28:14.469-05:002014-11-12T15:28:14.469-05:00Eric,
Followers of Christ meet for MUTUAL edifica...Eric,<br /><br />Followers of Christ meet for MUTUAL edification. So right! <br /><br />It's quite obvious, without pointing to the few instances on the web, that even simple church is being hijacked by those who also believe what you have stated, but they attend with the intention of being THE EDIFIER of all, rather than BE EDIFIED.<br /><br />The word "mutual" seems not to be in their vocabulary,as well as the understanding of what Paul meant when he used the word "foundation" in 1 Cor.3..<br /><br />"For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field,God's building. <br /><br />According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid foundation, and someone else is building upon it. LET EACH ONE TAKE CARE HOW HE BUILDS ON IT. FOR NO ONE CAN LAY A FOUNDATION OTHER THAN THAT WHICH IS LAID, WHICH IS JESUS CHRIST".<br />Aussie Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16199918171163666399noreply@blogger.com