Community Church: Apostolic or Apostate?
Pastor Linus Lau
That is what the church today lacks but sorely needs, especially among the leaders. The wind of pragmatism has crept into many churches. There is no principle except the one that says ‘whatever works, must be right.’ The buzz word in the church scene today is ‘community church.’ It seems to be the cure-all for whatever is ailing the church. Many churches around the world have shed their denominational labels and converted into community churches, ala Rick Warren’s Saddleback Community Church.
Let me just give you a short account of how Warren started and why so many churches are copying him. He sent out questionnaires to survey the local residents, to find out what people liked and disliked about going to church. Then he designed his church and worship services to make pagans feel at home, so that when they walked in, they wouldn’t feel like they were in church. Today if you go to his church, you can have a choice of over 20 styles of music, and then you can hear his message in over 10 different languages. But it is guaranteed that you won’t be offended, because he won’t talk about hell and God’s judgment, because that’s what people don’t want to hear. And the cross is not very prominent, if present at all. The meeting place resembles an auditorium or concert hall, which gives a festive ambiance where people can go and get entertained. In short, he has taken out anything that would remind people of a church.
But is the church supposed to look and feel like the world? Is that why Christ gave His life for the church, so that it would become just like the world? Heavens, no! But “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:25-27). The church – ecclesia – is called out of the world, to be set apart for Christ himself, to be his bride. The church is to be different from the world. It is to be a sanctuary, a shelter where people could come and find peace – the peace that comes by being reconciled to a holy God. But first they have to be convicted of their sin, not to feel good about themselves. So the church has to be faithful to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified. But such a message is “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Cor. 1:22). It is not a popular message.
Yet Pastor Warren prides himself as being so well-liked by the secular world that he is a frequent motivational speaker at big corporation meetings. One has to wonder if he is speaking the word of God or the message of man. Our Lord has this to say about being popular with the world: “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you” (John 15:19).
Sadly, far too many Chinese churches are following this trend. When attendance is down, they blame it on the demographics. Change it into a community church and you have a wider market. Build a gymnasium and the kids will come. Build a commercial kitchen and the older people will come. (I don’t think they have gone far enough. If they include MJ and karaoke rooms, I guarantee that they will have a full-house every day).
WBut God gives each of His servants a very specific mission. Peter was an Apostle to the Jews, while Paul was an Apostle to the Gentiles (Rom. 11:13; Gal. 2:8). Of course, Peter also preached to the Gentiles while Paul also preached to the Jews. But their main mission was clearly specified by God. And so God has also given each pastor and each church a very specific mission. Here, God has entrusted us with the task of preaching the gospel to our kinsmen. We are the Chinese Baptist Church. Our main mission – to which we must be faithful – is to preach the gospel to the Chinese, while we will not turn other people away whom God brings to our paths.
You want to see what the Bible has to say about shepherds who follow trends, instead of God’s instructions? “Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion. These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm – shepherds who feed only themselves…. These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit” (Jude 11-13, 19).
But the church needs men who are faithful to what God has entrusted them, men who are not in ministry for selfish gains, men who are full of conviction, men who can say, “I know whom I have believed,” and would not be shaken under any pressure or temptation. In short, we need men and women like Stephen, who held onto whom and what he believed, even when he had to pay with his very life.
Stephen and the leaders of the early church were faithful to the Lord and his word, and what was the result? “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7). When the church is faithful in preaching and teaching the word of God, God will prosper the church. And that is the only kind of church growth that matters. We don’t need to follow the ways of the world. We will do well to remember what our Lord has told us: “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (John 12:32). When we lift high the cross and the Lord crucified, both in ministry and in our own lives, then the Lord will give us the increase. Sola Gloria Deo!