Thoughts on "Being the Church"

I was minding my own business...REALLY. Decided to update my Facebook status with something to spark a little thought. Here's what I wrote: "Let's shake off the denominational mindset and take on the mindset of the Body of Christ. People come to Jesus not through a denomination but through lives that have been stirred by the breath of the living God and share the Good News!" You wouldn't believe the response!

Let me start off by saying that my whole purpose for the post was to break out of a mindset that keeps us from working with other believers to evangelize the lost. My post was not anti-denomination. However, it seems that I stirred up a rather large pot.

Most of the comments were positive. Most believers enjoy the idea of working with other churches. There was only one person that commented that didn't like what I wrote at all. In fact, I got a little mini sermon from a pastor stating how wrong I was. I ended up telling him that, unfortunately, he proved my point. I think his problem was that he couldn't see past the building. The thought that we would actually lead someone to Christ without actually bringing them into "our fold" was too much to handle.

Fact of the matter: I was right! We can't expect to be the only ones who will evangelize the world. I would go on to say that our lack of willingness to lay aside some of the "theological arguments" has hindered the expansion of God's kingdom. In Mark 9 we read of a man that was casting out demons in the name of Christ but didn't follow with the disciples. The disciples told him to stop but Jesus told them not to forbid the man. His thoughts on the matter? If the man was against Him then he was for Him.

We have to get rid of the idea that we have everything right. Sure - our denomination tends to line up with our way of thinking or we line up with theirs. However, we don't have everything right! Regardless of what others believe on non-essential matters, we should be able to stand side by side and share Jesus.

The photo above is the logo for Trailblazer Missions. What I love about this logo is that surrounding the world are different types of people, different colors, different nationalities, etc. God's kingdom is so diverse and the people we are trying to reach are very diverse. The problem is that the church as a whole tends to be less diverse in how we approach them. Let's get people saved first! Then we can work on the discipleship part.

One last note: Never mistake unity with uniformity. Now go out and BE the church.