Mark Dever, in his excellent book, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church provides a helpful reminder:
God’s Holy Spirit creates
His people by His Word. We can create a people by other means, and this
is the great temptation of churches. We can create a people around a
certain ethnicity. We can create a people around a fully-graded choir
program. We can find people who will get excited about a building
project or a denominational identity. We can create a people around a
series of care groups, where each feels loved and cared for. We can
create a people around a community service project. We can create a
people around social opportunities for young mothers or Caribbean
cruises for singles. We can create a people around men’s groups. We can
even create a people around the personality of a preacher. And God can
surely use all of these things. But in the final analysis the people of
God, the church of God, can only be created around the Word of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment