Over the last few months I have been looking at the concept
that everyone has an agenda. One of the things I have said is that even
churches have an agenda. Some are cults and want to indoctrinate you into a
particular set of beliefs. Others just want your money, if you give you
will get mentality. The other day I was challenged as a Christian leader to
explain what my ministry agenda was.
There are many different churches with many different
ministry emphasise, here are a few of my favourites:
The End Times emphasis;
There are many small churches that have a consistent stream
of ministries coming through their churches preaching that the end is near and
that Jesus is coming back soon. Or at least by this time next week. They close
the doors and let their ears be tickled by the expert analysis given by the
expert preacher on the events unfolding right on their doorstep. The money we
use is valueless, credit cards are of the devil and a sign of the Antichrist.
European Union is the greatest evil under the sun and the wars and skirmishes
in the east and the middle east all point to one thing. The rise of the
Antichrist and the start of the seven years of tribulation but don't worry we
as Christians won't be here because we will be raptured. All of this is very
clearly seen in the Bible and the book of Revelations, right down to the
dragonfly shaped killing machines that are in fact Apache attack helicopters.
All these are signs of the end times.
The church is Jewish emphasis;
We as a Christian church need to support Israel, visit there
during the feast of tabernacles take Jewish names and pray every day for the
peace of Jerusalem. My preaching should have a Jewish biblical slant and I
should be regularly blowing a rams horn in my worship on a Sunday morning along
with my Jewish dances to help usher in the presence of the Holy Spirit. In
other word because Jesus was a Jew and the Jews are God's chosen people and
because we are a grafted in branch on the olive tree the church should be
Jewish in its orientation.
The Creationist Philosophical emphasis;
The Earth is only just over six thousand years old because
Dr the Bishop Usher said so. The world was created in six literal days and if
you don't believe that you are a blasphemer. Either you believe all the bible
not just parts or you are going to hell. The whole world was flooded during the
time of Noah. The fossil record and dinosaurs can easily be explained from the
events of Genesis. Evolution is of the devil and no right thinking
Evangelical/Pentecostal Christian should ever contemplate believing such
rubbish.
What then is my agenda? Well I had to think long and hard
about this. I believe that Jesus is coming back. When and how exactly he will
do this I do not know. My friend tells me that thousands of people have given
their lives to Christ over the last thirty years because of his end times
preaching. A fact I am happy to openly dispute, because the churches he goes to
only have Christians in them and many have not seen a soul won for Christ in
decades. And the fact that he himself has a church of twenty five very
dedicated end time believers. I believe that the Jews are God's chosen people
and that Israel has a special place in God's heart. But the church is not
Jewish, it is Argentinean or African or Russian or Chinese. The great thing
about Christianity is that its message stays the same no matter what your
culture. I believe that God created the world and that the Hebrew poetry of the
first three chapters of the book of Genesis explains it in a wonderful poetic
way. As to when God created I don't know I wasn't there.
1Corinthians 1:18,20 and 22.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those that
are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Where are the wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where
is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the
world?
Jews demand signs and Greeks look for philosophy, but we
preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the
Greeks.
I believe that many Churches and church leaders are becoming
just like those Jews that Paul writes about always looking for a sign or like
those Greeks following a particular
Philosophy. This mindset does nothing for the furtherance of the Kingdom of
God, it merely panders to the few who have lost their way and forgotten the
last words of Jesus. My Agenda is simple, Preach Jesus and Him Crucified and
leave the rest to God. I believe in creating a strong church that can meet the
needs of those new believers. Helping those churches create the right Christian
culture and atmosphere. I believe in raising up and developing good
consistent Christian leadership to take
the church forward until Jesus returns, whenever that might be.
Comments
Post a Comment