It is an easy thing to grumble about the marketing mentality of so many local churches. Rather than taking direction from God’s Word we take it from sociological studies, surveys, and sage savants. What we often miss is that churches adopt these strategies because the “market” is asking them to. We want what we want, and they are happy to give it to us. What though of what we ought to want? Shouldn’t what we look for in a local church come from God’s Word? Here are three things we should expect from our local church.
1. Care. The church exists to care for the flock of Jesus Christ. That care, of course, covers quite a bit. We find in the book of Acts that the church not only provided sound teaching, which we will get to, but also provided for the needs of its widows. Those whose natural families were unwilling or unable to help the widows found provision through the deacons of the local church. Your local church should be a safe place to seek out the care you need.
The deacons, however, were not social workers helping the widows manage the Roman bureaucracy to get food stamps. No, they distributed to the widows that which had been given freely by the body. You should not expect the church to subsidize bad decisions. You should expect it to care for those within who are in need.
2. Teaching from the Word. Note that when the office of deacon is created in Acts that part of the motive was to remove the weight of those duties from the leadership of the church. They were to turn their attention to the ministry of the Word and prayer. You should expect your local church to be that place where the Bible is taught with faithfulness and fervor. It should be preached, with authority.
That means you should expect to have your sins confronted, your presuppositions challenged, your toes stepped on. A preacher who never makes you say “ouch” is almost certainly a hireling. Run away, and be glad he won’t chase after you. You should also expect, however, to be given the balm of Gilead, to hear preached with joy the good news of all that Jesus has accomplished and promised. If you come away from church without the joy of your salvation, you may be in the wrong place.
3. Prayer. Remember that the leadership at the church in Acts was freed to devote themselves to the ministry of the Word, and to prayer. Remember also that when Jesus cleansed the temple, He reminded all that were there that the temple was to be a house of prayer.
Your local church should be a place where those in leadership with persistence and compassion, pray for those under their care. This demonstrates not only a fitting love for the flock, but a robust grasp of from whence comes our help. It should also be a place where the saints in the pews also pray for those in leadership, and for the other saints in the pews. Everyone there should be praying for everyone there.
One more thing you should expect. Expect all leaders and all of the flock to sin, and to sin against you. It is not the gathering of the sinless but of the repentant. Don’t expect the church militant to have gained all the victories of the church triumphant. The church should be a place of grace, a hospital for the wounded and the wounding.
This is the fourth installment of an ongoing series of pieces here on the nature and calling of the church. Stay tuned for more.
Amen!