Church is Community
Persecutors don’t really care about the mode of church or about theology. All they care about is that the person was once one of them and now is one of us and baptism seems to be the dividing line for them.
The speaker at the seminar said, “Every Baptism in the New Testament took place within and was witnessed by the local believing community.” Baptism means, “I belong. I’m part of the community.”
Church is the place that, when I don’t go, they come looking for me because they have angst over my absence.
An interesting thing about church is that it will look just like the person who’s planting it. This is a note of caution and warning to sending agencies. If you send dysfunctional missionaries to plant churches, they will plant dysfunctional churches. And the more a church is defined by buildings, property and denomination, the easier it is for the persecutors to control faith. This is what happened in the Soviet Union. Survival mode and evangelism are seldom partners.
If church is community and if community is needed for faith to grow and be maintained, what about those thrown in jail? Often Christians are jailed together. If not, they evangelize as quickly as possible in jail to create community. The worst situation is isolation. It kills. In isolation, persecutors can drive a person crazy so when you’re praying for the persecuted church, pray for those in prison that they’ll have fellowship.
Interestingly, two weeks after the seminar, I read a story about when Richard Wurmbrand was thrown into isolation. Did that keep him disconnected? No! He discovered that when he tapped the wall, someone tapped back. So he tried it on the other wall and it worked too. He taught both sides Morse Code and then, using Morse Code, was able to develop relationship and bring his neighbours to Christ. Apparently, his neighbours passed on the means of communication and developed further community. Richard was no longer alone.
Are you part of a Christian community that notices when you’re absent? If not, why not? How are you “doing church” in your life?
The speaker at the seminar said, “Every Baptism in the New Testament took place within and was witnessed by the local believing community.” Baptism means, “I belong. I’m part of the community.”
Church is the place that, when I don’t go, they come looking for me because they have angst over my absence.
An interesting thing about church is that it will look just like the person who’s planting it. This is a note of caution and warning to sending agencies. If you send dysfunctional missionaries to plant churches, they will plant dysfunctional churches. And the more a church is defined by buildings, property and denomination, the easier it is for the persecutors to control faith. This is what happened in the Soviet Union. Survival mode and evangelism are seldom partners.
If church is community and if community is needed for faith to grow and be maintained, what about those thrown in jail? Often Christians are jailed together. If not, they evangelize as quickly as possible in jail to create community. The worst situation is isolation. It kills. In isolation, persecutors can drive a person crazy so when you’re praying for the persecuted church, pray for those in prison that they’ll have fellowship.
Interestingly, two weeks after the seminar, I read a story about when Richard Wurmbrand was thrown into isolation. Did that keep him disconnected? No! He discovered that when he tapped the wall, someone tapped back. So he tried it on the other wall and it worked too. He taught both sides Morse Code and then, using Morse Code, was able to develop relationship and bring his neighbours to Christ. Apparently, his neighbours passed on the means of communication and developed further community. Richard was no longer alone.
Are you part of a Christian community that notices when you’re absent? If not, why not? How are you “doing church” in your life?
posted by Magdaleine at 1:10 PM
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