FOUNDATIONS

I believe with all my heart after all the books I have read this year that there are certain imperatives if the church is going to fulfil its mission.

The first one is that our relationship with God is right, left and centre of all that we do. Without this we are only playing games. Without this we do not have anything to tell the world. We worship God when we submit to his lordship and acknowledge his lordship in our lives. Singing songs won’t achieve this for us. All they do is prevent us from giving God the worship he is due because we have this strange idea that singing songs is worship.

Until we are totally broken and submitted to him, any singing is at best a feel good exercise that gives us the impression that we have made the grade. I can remember times and have read about them when the church and the individual did nothing more than to fall prostrate at the feet of Jesus to soak in all that he is and wants to be for us and to let him know that we have no rights other than to be a son of God. The refining fire of God often sweeps through and the recipients are never the same again.

The next one is unity. The major events of the New Testament Church happened because of their unity. In the upper room where they were “together, together”; in their homes where they supported each other and met needs; unity in prayer to make the supernatural happen; financial unity supporting those who needed help and so on.

We are one body and one church but we act as thought we are at war with each other, which is so sad. In a survey conducted amongst unbelievers one of the reason that they were turned off by the church was that they are always fighting and arguing with each other.

Following that we need to realise that ritual without relationship is religion, not the abundant life we were promised. In most churches, the programme is everything and the leaders are there to make it happen. Yet Jesus said he would build his church, he didn’t ask us to. Our focus is the Kingdom of God and that means our activity is out there bringing the good news of the kingdom, not sitting on the premises in a holy huddle backslapping and congratulating ourselves on what a good meeting it was.

Until we de-institutionalise we will remain irrelevant to most people. With the fractured society that we have created, people are looking for reality and authenticity. Asking them to come and observe some religious tradition is sure to put them off.

Finally, asking God to bless our efforts has got to be the most stupid request we can make. God is not interested in what we want to do. He wants us to do what he wants to do and why not. We cannot save one person but God can save everyone so it is logical that we would do what he wants us to do. That way salvation is of the Lord and that is the type of salvation that is genuine and real.

Therefore, prayer must be about Him speaking to us, not us telling him what to do. If you spend all your time speaking to God, you are not going to hear what he has to say. Every fellowship should have at least one day of prayer and fasting a month to get anywhere near where God wants them to be. If we can’t manage that, are we really serious about our walk with the Lord?