This past Sunday we had the privilege to hear from a missionary couple that is headed for Peru. In their report regarding missionary work in Peru they spoke of churches being started and thriving within the space of twenty months. That is certainly an encouraging report. The missionary in his message from the first epistle to the Thessalonians pointed out how that Paul had spent only three weeks in Thessalonica and that in that space of time left behind a young but stable and seemingly secure church.
This certainly is not something that we have seen in any recent time in the States. Along with that the idea of starting and moving on from a church in the space of three weeks we would find absolutely incredible. These observations cause me to wonder about our “modern” church work here in the states. Is there really some interior reality within our churches that causes strength and stability or do we have some kind of pseudo thing going that requires all kinds of constant programming, promoting and even entertaining to support it?
True churches are a fellowship of people that have been almost violently altered from within through what we would call a “born-again” experience. They are a people that have abandoned a typical and vain approach to life and the world and have become devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Such a change is not really a work of discipleship but rather a result of true evangelism.
My fear is that we have found a way to get some kind of results without a careful regard to the cause. Ambition is a wonderful thing but it can move beyond reality into nothing more than man-made results. True churches find their origin in a refreshing and powerful work of the Holy Spirit. We cannot cause it and I wonder sometimes if we can even with hold it? (Think of Jonah and his experience in Nineveh). I, for one, long for the days when the Holy Spirit would again breath upon our land and bring a refreshing that would be genuine and representative of Him.
