The Church That Jesus Planted
Posted November 4th, 2008 by ErnestI believe that Jesus planted a (the) church. In my last post, I wrote that His twelve disciples, plus the 70 or so others were a church. That means that everything that has been added to the church since then is, well, extra.
Praise and worship. A sermon. Professional clergy. Buildings, bulletins, committees, small groups, choirs- all extra. These things are additions. Not bad. Helpful, but not necessary.
Sure, some of these things were added to Jesus’ church quite early on. As the number of Christ-followers grew, church leaders looked for ways to add structure in order to effectively maintain it all. Centuries later, and we’re experts at the extras. Are we novices in the essentials like personal redemptive relationships (vs. “evangelism”) and relational discipleship (vs. program)?
The reason I’m writing about all of this is simple- our super-sized, value-added understanding of church is hindering the growth of the Kingdom. Church planters in America to reproduce extra-laden churches. Missionaries are expected by those who send them to be sure to build the extras into the churches they plant. Our understanding of church is essential to our missiology.
Related Posts:
Tags: The church that Jesus planted
Unless writing a lot makes one a "writer," Ernest is a former missionary. After more than six years in Western Europe, he moved to Portland, where he drinks too much coffee and over-analyzes human behavior. For more about Ernest, visit the About page where you can read a long-time reader's interview with him. Or, if you don't mind waiting a very, very long time, send him an email.
4 Responses to “The Church That Jesus Planted”
November 4th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Wouldn’t you say that Jesus’ church had “praise and worship” and an occasional sermon? The other stuff… optional (and not always desirable) add-ons.
November 5th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Jason,
I guess by, “praise and worship,” I meant “a planned time of singing songs read from a book/screen.” I see worship in Jesus’ church more of a spontaneous response to revelations of His holiness. Sometimes the disciples fell on their faces in fear (Matthew 17:6), gasped with realization (Matthew 14:22-33 ), or rejoicing (John 20:20).
As for the sermon- I don’t read our modern understanding of a sermon into the New Testament “sermons.” I don’t think NT sermons were “prepared” and studied speeches. When Jesus spoke to His disciples, I think there was a lot of narrative and a lot of interaction (Luke 9:11) in His teaching. Several times He addressed crowds, but it was usually to tell (unexplained) parables (Mark 4:1-2) or to interact publicly with a specific person (Zaccheus, the Hem-touching Woman, the Paraplegic).
So it seems to me that our understanding of “praise and worship” and the “sermon” are also add-ons. Again- not that they’re bad!
Thanks for interacting with me on this, Jason.
November 8th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Thank you!
November 15th, 2008 at 9:23 am
I think you are absolutely right, and I think it is funny that even Peter struggled with this. I mean he is in the glorified presence of Jesus and prophets and the only thing he can think of is building something.
Good thing buildings never distract us from the glory of Jesus!
Leave a Reply