Posted by Bigfish69 on 12:15 pm | Categories: acceptance, accountability, authentic, authority, belonging, church, church growth, churchianity, discipleship, dysfunction, fellowship, leadership, membership, pastor
The following is a response to a spoken message by Tony Rainbow of Victory Church (Adelaide, Australia) to the people of Fusion City Church (Canberra – Australia)
Topic being shared: Staying the Course
For the most part this message shared was positive. However, part way through Tony stated:"a person's church attendance reflects their real relationship with God. If they are not attending they are reflecting a lack of genuine love for Him." Tony Rainbow, Victory Church, Australia - 27 Nov 2011
Given the information of the rest of the sermon, the context for this is attendance of Sunday church services.
In
other words, Tony was suggesting that people who do not regularly
attend a church service lack a genuine love for God. Alternatively,
people only really love God if they attend church services, preferably
every week.
(This
kind of comment is in the same category as those that suggest "Your
love for God is measured by the amount of money you give to the
church.")
Shortly after Tony stated
"If you hang around (spend time with) people who hate the church or speak against it, then we are going to become like them." Tony Rainbow, Victory Church, Australia - 27 Nov 2011
Unfortunately the implications of this are:
- No one should speak against anything a church does, even if it does or says something counter to what appears in the Bible
- Decision makers and leaders of churches view themselves as infallible
- Anyone who raises a question of how and why things are done is seen as a hater of the church and indeed the people involved in it
And even if it is possible to ignore these comments, what are the implications for our relationship with God? Ask yourself:
- Who did God send his son, Jesus, to hang around? Did he become like them?
- Did he speak against religious attitudes and behaviours or people?
- Who did Jesus send his disciples amongst?
- People who pursue a life that copies Jesus will be hated and persecuted because the world first hated him (John 15:18-27). Why does Gods warn us about this? Does it mean we are to run away or persevere? What does each choice here say about how we view God and Jesus?
- The Bible teaches us that we are not perfect and we make mistakes. Is this is a reason to limit our relationships to those who agree with us and behave like us (Mt 5:43-48)?
- Consider evangelism. Who is the audience? How can discipleship occur if we are not to spend time people who disagree with us?
