“We Preach Christ… A Lesson in Riding the Big Wave”
Written by Teddy on January 5, 2016
I was saddened the other day to learn more of a local church that at one time was the “light house” in their community, seems now to have fallen into the “new wave” of ministry syndrome.
I am not what you might call a traditionalist in ministry methods, although many traditions should be reverenced highly and not be arbitrarily dismissed. We know the message of the gospel stays the same, but sometimes the tools we use and methods we employ vary. Because of the culture we want to reach and because of the times in which we live, a creative but measured change is often necessary to be effective in carrying the message. However, we can become overtaken with the pseudo power of some of those methods.
What saves a person? The vehicle we use to carry the gospel is important as long as the cart doesn’t pull the horse. It seems today, this new wave that some are surfing, is more important than the “how tos” of the action. The excitement is there, the thrill can be all-encompassing. The ride, though, is fleeting. The exercise is terminated by a spill back into the deep. The participant “wipes out” and never reaches the beach.
The gospel includes the well-known basics of ABC. Accept, Believe, and Commit. But the three Rs are often missing, Realization of sin, Recognition of sin in one’s life and Repentance from that sin.
In the touchy feely culture in which we live, so often ministry success is attributed to how many were emotionally swept away in the moment. Sincere conversion and allegiance to the God of the Bible is sometimes replaced by an emotion experienced. When the sensation wanes, so does the un-converted’s “Christianity”, so does the converted’s steadfastness.
A reminder to us; only the fixed, uncompromising and unchangeable fact of Christ’s plan of redemption, Him crucified and resurrected is what truly matters and what truly rescues.
Let each of our mottos be in 2016, “we preach Christ”.
