I last posted a TIB on 26th December 2021, nearly 8 months ago now! This year has been more than hectic, and I am sure I'm not the only one feeling it. But now it's time for some rejuvenation, and with that, back to blogging...

I wrote this TIB on the 29th August 2010, almost 12 years ago, and over the past 12 to 24 months, it seems even more relevant today. In most of my previous TIB's I have tried, intentionally, not to be too overtly Christian in my writings. However, as a believer, this particular TIB needs to adopt a more direct style of writing. So here goes...

About 10 years ago (more like 20 years ago now) a number of Australian pastors began preaching a particular message. I can’t recall exactly who; if I dug up my old journals I would find who, but it doesn’t matter now. I do remember though, that there was more than one. The gist of the message was that your destiny is intimately linked to that of your local church. Many of us at the time and over the years following, grabbed onto this and ran with it.

From where I am now, I look back at this and realise two things. I look back from this new position of mine, having recently left the city of Rustenburg and my local church there and relocated to a quiet country town, primarily to escape the pace of a performance-based existence and perhaps to a lesser degree a performance-based religion. Firstly I realise that this message was and is true (to a degree), but I also realise that in many cases, in the context of the modern church culture, it can be very dangerous.

Your local Christian church, as part of God’s design for fellowship amongst believers, has as its primary purpose the vehicle for the salvation of mankind. The concept of "salvation" is also used here as it is understood in the context of modern chruch teachings, and is itself a subject of some debate which I won't go into for the sake of the context of this TIB. Then it needs to disciple those that have been converted to faith in Christ. Naturally, to do this, it focuses most of its energies and resources on its weekly services. This is right!

Over the past few years I have worked with and engaged with many young people, relatively new to the faith and more than eager to follow Jesus and His example. These young people have come to know Jesus because of the local church’s enormous efforts in attracting and converting them to faith in Jesus during the weekly services – the main focus of the local church. Thereafter, weekly attendance ensures that they become strongly founded in God’s Word. And then the danger starts.

By simple virtue of the fact that the local church spends most of its efforts and resources on the weekly services (which is, as we can accept, a good thing, I guess), there is a neglect of the issues that are thereafter, closest to the heart of God. As impressionable young believers, coming from a world that is prone to hero-worship and seeking worthy example, many of these young people quickly begin to look up to the church leaders they find leading them on a weekly basis. Because of their focus (the leaders’) being mostly on the weekly services, this is a focus that is propagated in the new believers. It is almost as if the process of discipleship sort of stagnates at a certain stage. Church leaders will preach salient issues like social justice, missions and evangelism, but the focus of the church’s resources remains on the weekly services. Congregants are encouraged to embrace the spirit of volunteerism and give of their resources (mostly time and energy) to supplement the efforts of the church staff. This is the church’s (generally speaking) best effort at releasing its congregants into God’s work. Mostly the motivation is preached as “serving the house”, “building God’s temple”, “making the church attractive to the world” and the slant of the preaching is often (also probably not intentionally) towards creating a feeling of indebtedness to the church. I have heard pastors preach this angle to the point where I have had difficulty separating in my perception of the message, the local church and its pastors from Jesus Himself. I am sure the pastors have had the best possible intent, but the feeling in many congregants was that of “old testament” condemnation by, and servitude towards the “priesthood” as ordained and appointed by God. As a relatively mature (I am careful in using this descriptive of myself because all too often I feel I know nothing about God and His Grace) believer, I walk away wondering exactly how it is the young (both in terms of years as believer and years on this earth) believer might interpret these sayings. I also walk away wondering what it is that God thinks of these teachings and often I am too confused in myself and with my stance in the world and part of Christ’s body that I mostly avoid wondering too much. But I have seen and am currently witnessing too much abuse to continue this ostrich act. I now firmly believe that God is saddened by this. Just look at what He says in Isaiah chapter 1, verses 10 to 17 (NIV):

Isa 1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

Isa 1:11 "The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

Isa 1:12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?

Isa 1:13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your evil assemblies.

Isa 1:14 Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

Isa 1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood;

Isa 1:16 wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong,

Isa 1:17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

The local church does not have the sole mandate on revealing to any individual their calling as pertains to their being called according to God’s good purposes. As does the local church NOT have the sole mandate on revealing to any individual their destiny further than salvation (entering into God’s family as is the understanding of the contemporary church) and discipleship (revealing through sound teaching God’s word). And because the issues of social justice (verse 17 above) are secondary to most church’s main weekly focus, any preaching about calling and destiny tends to be restricted to their particular frame of reference (their weekly services). By no means do I think it a bad thing that congregants are “coerced” into voluntary service for and during the church services (well, for the most, I don't), but this cannot be equated to their calling or destiny. This begins to be a restrictive Gospel and that which Jesus came and died for was never meant to restrict, but rather to release.

The role of the local church needs to begin to focus more on the individual believer and the development of his personal relationship with God, the Father, and through this discovering and being released into a Godly destiny. Far too much is “releasing” being preached while church leaders hold fast to those with energy, constricting them through fear of losing them and their skills; and too much are young people made to believe that the local church is the ONLY way into God’s Grace.

It was through God working in my life and separating me from the local church and bringing me into a place where I am totally reliant on Him, that I have come to contemplate this. Too many people that I know are kept, wrongly but often with good intent, within the confines of the local church and do not do what our Saviour has saved us for. He said He has to go so that the Father can send the Holy Spirit so that we, as a global body can do so much more than He could. He said that if we love Him, we will do as says. If we, as the learned and experienced church cannot do what Jesus implores us to do and what the Word so clearly tells us to do, and we carry on with “meaningless offerings”, “detestable incense” and “evil assemblies”, how can we expect any better and how can we expect to have any impact on the social justice issues of the world?

But fortunately I know now that my destiny is intimately linked to my Father in heaven and it is through Him that I find my purpose and guidance towards it. I am grateful for this and I believe that a new awakening is coming. One where the local church will experience a revival in their true purpose as determined by God’s perfect design and with this is our destiny firmly intertwined.

Since writing this in 2010, I have also grown weary, and wary, of using the term Christian. It seems to be very sullied, like an old coin fingered by too many grubby hands. I have also grown distant from any "local church", although have visited many. Amongst them even my old church back in Rustenburg where I found little had changed since I helped to preach "service to the house" very much equals service to God (out of ignorance). By no means would I advocate my position now as a good example, however for me, I find outside the church, on the edge of both society and the church, an extremely good place to be.

22 August 2022