The church has only one real purpose. It is to lead men to Jesus Christ so that He might give them new life. It is a simple calling that is easily forgotten.
I remember when I began to interview with Memorial Baptist Church the search team asked me to describe “the church” in one word. Many thoughts went trough my head. God has called to the church to show His love. He has called it to be a guardian of His truth. He has called the church to have a sweet fellowship that befuddles the world. As I thought about this question I finally came to a single word to describe the church: missional. The church exists to be serving in God’s life changing mission of leading people to Him so that they might be born again.
At church we are looking at the story of Nicodemus. Jesus tells Nick that unless you are born of the spirit of God you cannot know God. Nicodemus is befuddled. As a religious leader he never saw a conversion like the one Jesus described. Nicodemus was a part of a system of religion that attempted to fabricate conversion while not actually accomplishing it.
It is very easy to build a church that looks missional but is not. A church can be built around a show, fellowship, a pastor, or any other number of things. A church can grow in numbers and yet still be a fabricated model of a missional fellowship.
The litmus test for the church is simple, do we see on a regular basis men being brought to Jesus Christ to be born again. If not, we must set everything aside so that we can rid ourselves of good distractions to focus on our main purpose.
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