Do we need another reformation?

[earl40]

What better time than the 500th anniversary of the 95 theses?

What would we call and label this "time"? Would it be an official part of what the church ought to do? Would it be labeled a religious celebration? Maybe I am just a tad sensitive to the idea of men setting aside days, weeks, or years, for the sake of The Gospel which in my opinion ought not to be done.

 

[BG]

Yes they did; but they rebuked specific individuals and congregations for specific issues they were directly privy to. We may lament, and rightly so, the general shortcomings of our generation of believers, but it is presumptuous to make statements like you have made unless you are talking about your own life, your families life, or the life of your congregation which you are intimately aware of.

'we do not read the Bible.
We do not fellowship.
We do not pray.
We do not conduct discipleship programs.
We do not evangelize.
We do not practice hospitality.
Very few ministers know how to preach.
Very few ministers know how to shepherd the flock even worse many have no desire to shepherd the flock.'

All of these statements are presumptuous and unhelpful I think if spoken of in a large context. They are heartfelt assumptions no doubt; and I have made similar statements many many times in the past; but the Lord has since disciplined me to be careful not to make such sweeping statements and they come from emotion instead of firsthand personal knowledge. Let us not bear false witness! It is so easy to become blind to what God is doing right in front of us and be critical of what is not happening everywhere else.

There is more reformed teaching going out now than ever before to all corners of the world. Because of the way knowledge can travel, you have young people from godless families discovering the truth of Christ and going straight into pastoral/evangelism/mission work, I read of a young man who got saved, promptly looked up a place that needed the gospel and moved with his wife to Iceland to start a reformed congregation there; the only one of its kind around. He's been laboring faithfully for several years now and is finally starting to see fruit! God is building and strengthening and adding to his body day by day.

There will always be things to critique about the bride of Christ; there will always be cause for despair of our current condition if we fail to look to the ongoing work of Christ and LOVE the church. Loving the church means bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things. It is in this attitude of love that our hearts are rekindled for things of the Lord; let us be the reformation and revival we wish to see in the world!

Of course there is a place for criticism and sharp discourse, rebuke. But let it be pointed, specific, illuminating. If you are not having these discussions in person with people in your church, family, etc; then we really have no right to complain too much about the state that the church is in because we have not done our small part, at least that's how I see it.

Perhaps 'disparaging' is the wrong word for your statement. I am just eager to defend the bride of Christ and would encourage everyone to be proactive in prayer and thanksgiving for Christ's ongoing work amongst his people in the world; that we might see more of it with our own eyes, and I've been disciplined by the Lord for making similar statements about the church in the past; I'd spare others from the correction that I received if I can.






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Kaleb, I appreciate your zeal to protect the bride of Christ, it is admirable. I think you are over looking a few things. Throughout Scripture God calls his bride to repent. All the OT prophets did this, John the Baptist called the Church in his day to repent, he did not know everyone in Jerusalem and yet he was able to spot the problems they had and point it out. Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, and John do the same thing. I have been a Christian for more than 20 years and during that time my family has moved from central FL to the panhandle of FL to IN and now to TN, and we have probably visited more than 60 churches and viewed hundreds of church websites. So, I can say without a doubt that what I previously said is not just my opinion. Not only are churches not doing the things listed above but they are infected with the social gospel of men like Francis Chan, Matt Chandler, David Platt, Beth Moore, Rick Warren, Jen Hatmaker, Tim Keller and worse (Mark Driscoll and Andy Stanley), just to name a few. Most evanjellyfish churches today are totally entertainment driven. What is worse they are being run by goofy, skinny jean wearing, effeminate men with tattoos, earrings and a punk rock hair cut, who say dude every third word and encourage people to pick up a latte in the foyer at the java Jesus bar. Many of these churches no longer even preach about sin, they often promote the fact that everyone is welcome and accepted at their church, I think I remember John the Baptist saying that very thing to Herod, "Hey dude, brother, don't worrie about that adulterous relationship your in it's all good, grab a latte and listen to some tunes, here at flip flop charismatic community reformed church. It is disgusting what is happening in so called reformed churches today. There is one across the street from my house, their big ministry goal for next year is to build a soccer field with a sprinkler system and a scoreboard because nothing will further the kingdom like a soccer field. My prayer for the bride of Christ is that she would repent and return to her first love, we have strayed for far to long, we have learned the ways of the Pagans and sought to entertain goats rather than feed sheep.

 

[Ed Walsh]

AN
HUMBLE ATTEMPT
TO PROMOTE
EXPLICIT AGREEMENT AND VISIBLE UNION OF GOD’S PEOPLE,
IN
EXTRAORDINARY PRAYER,
FOR THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION AND THE ADVANCEMENT OF Christ’S KINGDOM ON EARTH​

I thought I should upload this paper by Jonathan Edwards too.

 

[jwright82]

The context of my post was the post I quoted:


I only urged that we not limit the discussion to the American church.

So you're referring to the church at large, ok thats context. So how do we enact a worldwide church reformation?

 

[BG]

Can I help?
In post #3 BG (Bill G) said among other things that, "We do not read the Bible. We do not pray. We do not evangelize. If this describes you to an extent, you could send me a private message, and I will share how I try to overcome these shortcomings and offer some encouragement in the hope of helping you.

Ed

Ed, thank you for your kind offer, I’m sorry I did not respond to this sooner I meant to. In the post I was not necessarily describing myself however I would be interested in hearing how you deal with some of these things. Thanks Bill