Should we change the way we do church? That question is being asked by a lot of people in America. Something is not working as it should. Almost everyone agrees on that. For the first time in U.S. history, church membership fell below the majority according to a Gallup poll conducted in 2020. This graph plots the steady decline during the last few decades.i
INSERT GRAPH FROM GALLUP ARTICLE REFERENCED IN ENDNOTE #1.
The statistic stayed in the seventy percent range from 1940 to 2000. At that point it went into a steep decline. The issue is not whether something should change. Almost all agree this trend is unacceptable. The issue is how to fix it. What needs to happen to turn this trend around?
Individuals are having disappointing church experiences that are prompting them to seek a better way to do church. Church leaders are trying to improve the situation in their organizations. It seems the more we study church growth, the less church growth we have.
This morning I want to address four misguided efforts that I have personally encountered in recent years. Then we will explore eight biblical practices that must be honored in any church model. Methods can change, but we are given principles in Scripture that must not be compromised.
These four misguided revisions are not an exhaustive list, but it is representative of erroneous changes people are making. To facilitate the conversation, I will use the following terms to identify each movement.
1. Entertainers
2. Progressives
3. Legalists
4. Fellowshipers
The ENTERTAINERS seek to build the crowd through more entertaining, comfortable services. The worship service must reflect professional competence. Those on the stage must project a youthful, appealing image. All the bells and whistles of the latest technology must be in place. Keep the sermons short and sweet with lots of engaging stories and material that the crowd considers relevant.
None of that is wrong in itself. We should preach engaging, relevant messages. We don’t want the distraction of flawed technology. And we want to play our music as competently as we can. Psalm 33:3 tells us to “play skillfully” in our worship.ii Anything we do, we should do it heartily to the Lord. We should do it as well as we can with a passionate desire to glorify the Lord.iii
The problem comes in when these secondary matters are given primary attention. What is primary? The work of the Holy Spirit is essential for the transformation of hearts and the glorification of Christ. That is evident in the first few chapters of Acts. That is evident in Jesus’s earthly ministry. We see that clearly throughout the book of Acts. Zechariah 4:6 states the principle emphatically: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' Says the Lord of hosts.”iv Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty; there is joy; there is deliverance and peace.v The Holy Spirit is able to supply everything we need in life.vi And through the Holy Spirit, Jesus will build His church.vii
But when people are living in sin and self-glorification, the Holy Spirit is grieved.viii And all those benefits are not present in the service. That’s when leaders are tempted to substitute entertainment to retain the people’s attendance.
Under the golden age of Solomon’s rule, Israel enjoyed God’s blessings.ix At the dedication of the temple, God’s presence was so strong the priests fell under the power of God.x Under God’s blessing, Solomon made 300 shields of gold for the palace (2 Chron. 9:16). But through Israel’s disobedience those golden shields were taken by Egypt (2 Chron. 12:9) during Rehoboam’s reign. Since Rehoboam no longer had the gold shields, he made a substitute: brass shields (vs 10). When leaders don’t have the golden shields of God’s best, they tend to substitute something inferior to make up for it. Let me say emphatically, fancy entertainment is always inferior to the manifestations of the Holy Spirit.xi
The misguided efforts of leaders to revamp God’s house of prayer into an entertainment center has proven ineffective.xii The Church Growth Movement of the ‘80’s and ‘90’s turned pastors’ attention to secondary matters. In doing that, many lost the active operation of the Spirit in their services.
A few years ago, I encountered this error when talking with a megachurch pastor. We were discussing the possibility of me coming on staff as a teaching pastor. The leaders were very amiable men, and I was seriously considering the possibility of working with them. To make sure our doctrine was similar enough for the alliance to work, I began to discuss a couple of key doctrines. To my astonishment, the pastor told me they do not teach doctrine. Thinking I might have misunderstood the statement, I asked what they did if a parishioner asked for their understanding of 1 Corinthians 12 and the gifts of the Spirit. The response was, “We leave the interpretation up to them. We just try to get them saved; then we let the Holy Spirit teach them what to believe.” Of course, that sealed my decision not to proceed with the staff position.
If the apostles thought that way, we would not have a New Testament. Paul told Timothy, “Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine (1 Tim. 4:13). Rather than avoiding New Testament doctrine, we are to give our attention to it. We are to ground believers in sound doctrine as a part of the discipleship process. In 1 Timothy 4:15-16 Paul explained further: “Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. 16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” Entertainers avoid doctrine as a way to not offend anyone and keep the crowd. But we can not fulfill the Great Commission without grounding followers of Jesus in sound doctrine.xiii
The PROGRESSIVES have gone even further off course.
They don’t just avoid sound doctrine; they contend against it. Under a confused understanding of love, the Progressive Christianity Movement rejects biblical boundaries on moral behavior.xiv It equates tolerance with love, something easily disproved in Scripture. Their revision rejects the very foundations of biblical Christianity.
One of their leaders, Brian McLaren, blames much of the world’s ills on the Christian belief system. He suggests we abandon the beliefs and doctrines of the Bible and simply accept whatever behaviors church members choose to indulge in.xv The modification of Christianity he contends for is not just improved methods. He wants the very heart and soul of Christianity changed. In his book, The Great Spiritual Migration, McLaren states this fundamental objective. He writes, “What are we moving towards? My most direct answer would be that we are migrating towards a profound conversion [or reinvention] in Christian faith. We’re seeking a change in the content, not just the can; in substance, not just in style or structure” (emphasis McLaren’s).xvi This movement rejects biblical morality and substitutes its own form of social justice in its value system.xvii Their value system promotes moral tolerance and environmental ecology as a central cause to pursue. Rather than exalting the cross of Christ (1 Cor. 2:2), they have developed another gospel offering a revolutionist Jesus (2 Cor. 11:3-4) in contrast to the New Testament Jesus who saves from sin (Matt. 1:21).
Progressive Christianity is a diabolical movement designed by Satan to undermine true Christianity. Jude was addressing a similar movement in his day when he warned, “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (vs 4). They are blind apostates leading blind followers into eternal destruction.xviii Peter accurately describes these apostates in his second epistle 2:17-21.
“These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. 18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. 20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.” This extreme error stands apart from the milder forms of error found in the Entertainers and Fellowshippers.
The LEGALISTS error can be found on a continuum of mild to severe.
In the extreme form, the grace of God is replaced with man’s works and religious ritual. Paul contended with this problem in the early years of the church. In Galatians 4:9-11 he wrote to those falling into this error. “But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.”
Perhaps in a response to the antinomianism being promoted by Progressive Christianity and even to a degree among the Entertainers, some want the church to return to Old Testament Judaism. There is nothing wrong with an ethnic Jew appreciating his or her historical roots. But when we substitute Old Testament rules and rituals for the New Testament relationship we can have in Christ, we fall into religious bondage. According to Hebrews 8:6 we are now under a “better covenant which was established on better promises.” We dishonor Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross when we return to Old Covenant rules and rituals which were a shadow of better things provided in Christ.
A few years ago, I was talking with a Christian who fell under this error. He manifested a pride in knowing and doing Old Testament obligations that other Christians don’t follow. As we discussed the matter, I quoted from Paul’s epistles in an effort to show him his error from Scripture. He had fallen so deeply into this legalism that his response was to reject the Pauline epistles. He said Paul was a false prophet and his writings could not be trusted. Once a person is in that level of deception it is difficult to help them. God said in Jeremiah 8:9, “Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord; So what wisdom do they have?”
We do not have time to correct this error today. Sorting out the continuance of moral law in the New Covenant and the fulfillment of the types and rituals of the Old Testament is an extensive endeavor. What I want to point out is the misinformed effort of some to revise the church toward a Judaistic legalism. The apostles encountered the problem in the early history of the church, and we are encountering it today.
The FELLOWSHIPPERS are less extreme than the other three categories.
However, the danger they face is more subtle. For that reason, sincere Christians may be more vulnerable to its deception.
The Fellowshippers I have encountered in recent years are disillusioned with the audience-based church model of most American churches. They are particularly interested in building authentic relationships with other believers—so much so that they are willing to sacrifice other important elements of church to build those relationships. Their desire to build authentic relationships is not the problem. We desire this as well. Their willingness to neglect other essentials is the problem.
So, they join with a few friends and pull out of their church commitments. They agree with their group to meet regularly. Often those meetings are to enjoy nature and have a little prayer together. There is no accountability to a pastor. They often avoid a strong financial commitment to the work of the Lord. Instead, they give a little benevolence here and there. They often have a common activity that they all enjoy, and God becomes a part of what they already wanted to do. It might be canoeing. It might be riding motorcycles. It might be hiking in the forest. This way they get to do what they enjoy and build their friendships without the personal and financial accountability to a church.
Of there is nothing wrong with these activities. But in many cases they are gathering around a hobby or some enjoyable activity, rather than gathering unto Christ with Him as the central reason for the gathering.
We have briefly discussed four misinformed efforts to revise the way we do church. They tend to cater to fleshly desires instead of following biblical revelation.
Now we will look at the early church model for guidance on what church should be. My contention is that we do need to change the way we do church.xix However, those changes must move us closer to the New Testament pattern, not further from it. They should inspire deeper commitment to Christ and facilitate a drawing near to the Lord (James 4:8).
Our text for this study will be Acts 2:42-47. Follow with me as we read it.
“And they [early church believers] continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”
That passage contains at least eight activities that should comprise the church experience. The first four are in verse 42. We are told in that verse that they “continued steadfastly” in these practices. It was their lifestyle. The Greek word translated “continued steadfastly” is proskartereo. It indicates constant and consistent commitment to these activities.xx The NIV translates it “devoted to.” They made it a priority and faithfully gave themselves to these practices.
1. Apostles' doctrine:
We have the apostles' doctrine recorded for us in our New Testament. The early believers were people of the Word. Jesus said, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31 KJV). The apostles' doctrine is built upon the words of Jesus. Those words are spirit and life to us.xxi Our Christian life depends on a steady diet of the word of God.xxii
The Psalmist said, “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path” (Ps 119:105). God’s word provides the guidance we need for doing life. In that same Psalm we read, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You” (Ps 119:11). The word of God has a sanctifying influence on our hearts, something we all need daily.xxiii I have already read some of Paul’s exhortations to diligently study doctrine. Devoting ourselves to “the apostles' doctrine” is much more than a quick devotion on the riverbank during a fishing trip. That’s a good thing to do. But Acts 2:42 is revealing a much deeper commitment than that.
2. Fellowship:
The Greek word is koinonia. Its core meaning is sharing or joint participation. When I’m in koinonia, I weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice because we are experiencing life together. The current church model is weak in this dynamic and seldom provides deep participation with one another. Some small churches experience it, and some experience it in large churches through small groups. The connecting bond is more than a common interest in bowling or classic cars. It is more that watching a football game together. The connecting bond is first and foremost a love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Our common faith is central to the connection and paramount in our communication with one another.xxiv
3. The breaking of bread:
This is a reference to the Lord’s Supper.xxv Jesus left only two ordinances for His followers: water baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In the upper room with his disciples, “He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’”xxvi The Communion Table is a vivid reminder of what Christ did for us at the cross. In a concrete way it calls our attention to that which is most important: the death and resurrection of Christ and His Second Coming. We need the ordinance to help us keep the main thing as the main thing. Material prosperity is not the main thing. Life in Christ through the cross is the main thing. We should be devoted to this practice.
4. Prayers:
God’s house is to be a House of Prayer.xxvii It’s not a House of Entertainment. It is a gathering to worship and seek the Lord. It is not just about our horizontal relationships. It is first of all about our relationship with God. The first and greatest commandment is this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”xxviii Corporate prayer is vital to our Christian life. The narrative in Acts lets us know these believers were fervent in prayer. They did not offer up quick token prayers out of duty. They lived life in prayer. When crisis arose, they solved it with corporate prayer (Acts 4:23-31).
5. Miracles:
These believers relied upon and lived in the supernatural. Acts 2:43 says, “Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.” When God is in the house there is a holy awe, a holy respect for His presence. And miracles happen when God’s people put their faith in the Lord. Some of those miracles are spectacular; some are less noteworthy; but God’s people live in a dependence on the activity of the Holy Spirit. When the supernatural element is missing, people tend to digress into rote/ritualistic religion. We don’t live for the miracles. We live for the Lord. But we expect Him to answer prayer; at times we experience miracles of healing, deliverance, and provision.
6. Giving:
Living in communion with God produces generosity in our hearts. Acts 2:44-45 says, “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.” That is a record of their heart condition and the voluntary behaver that followed. Some people think it is talking about a communal living where the resources are controlled by the cult leader. But this was purely voluntary. We know that from what Peter said to Ananias when he confronted him for lying to the Holy Spirit. In Acts 5:3-4 Peter said to him, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? 4 While it remained, was it not your own?” Ananias did not have to sell the land and give the money to the church. He could have kept it. All this was voluntary.
But the love of God can deliver us from a tight fist and inspire us to share material possessions with fellow believers. Passing the plate in church is part of the worship experience. Giving to the common cause of Christ is part of what church is about.
7. Praise:
Acts 2:46-47 continues, “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people.” Praising God was also core to their lifestyle. They did it when they gathered “from house to house” and in the larger gathering “in the temple.” When we gather in our service, we have a time of focused worship and praise because, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord. And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High” (Ps. 92:1). We do that out of principle. It’s not just following a meaningless tradition. It is part of our lifestyle commitment to honoring the Lord.
8. Evangelism:
Acts 2:47 concludes with this statement: “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” Church is more than a holy huddle. We come together to be built up so that our light can shine in this dark world. Our concern is not just for ourselves and our fellow believers. We are concerned for the lost and we want them to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. We personally take that message wherever we go, and we support those who are taking the message to places we can’t go.
In the Great Commission, Jesus said, “‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20). We gather together for church this morning because we can do that better together than we can isolated from one another. We do church the way we do it because it is the best way we know how to fulfill these eight practices of the early church.
If you want to revise the church, make sure these eight elements are a solid part of the model. And be faithful to coming together in the name of Jesus.
We close with this final exhortation in Hebrews 10:24-25: “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
ENDNOTES:
i Jeffrey M. Jones, “U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time,” Gallup. Accessed at https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx.
ii All Scripture quotes are from the New King James Version unless indicated otherwise.
iii Cf. Col. 3:23; Eph. 3:21; Ps. 25:27; Gal. 5:26.
iv See my message entitled “Empowered for Service” (#11 in Zechariah series) available at www.SermonCentral.com .
v Cf. 2 Cor. 3:17; 2 Pet. 1:3.
vi Cf. 2 Pet. 1:3.
vii Cf. Matt. 16:18.
viii Cf. Eph. 4:30.
ix Of course, this was due to an overflow of God’s approval on David’s devotion. We know that Solomon made compromises that eventually provoked God’s disfavor. Cf. 1 Kings 11:28-34.
x 2 Chron. 5:14; 7:1-2.
xi Unlike gold, brass must be continually polished to maintain its luster. When churches substitute entertainment for the Spirit’s manifestation, a lot of polishing is required.
xii Cf. Isa. 56:7; Matt. 21:13; Mk. 11:17: Lk. 19:46.
xiii Jesus commanded us to “make disciples” (not just have people say the sinner’s prayer) “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:20).
xiv I am using the name “Progressive Christianity” because that is the label they are commonly called..
xv Brian D. McLaren, The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World’s Largest Religion Is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2016), 3.
xvi Brian D. McLaren, The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World’s Largest Religion Is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2016), 9.
xvii For furth discussion of this see Richard W. Tow, Authentic Christianity: Studies in 1 John (Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2019), 415-426.
xviii Cf. Matt. 15:14; Luke 6:39; 2 Tim. 3:1-8.
xix The development of the Internet has created changes in the way we do church that involve additional dangers, but additional opportunities as well. There is not enough time in this message to deal with this vast subject, but we cannot ignore this technology as we seek to effectively fulfill the Great Commission in today’s environment.
xx See Strong’s Concordance, N.T. 4342. The apostles used this term in Acts 6:4 when they said, “we will give ourselves continually [proskartereo] to prayer and to the ministry of the word." Notice the priority placed on prayer and the word in the early church.
xxi Cf. John 6:63.
xxii Quoting Deut. 8:3 Jesus said, “'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4).
xxiii See John 17:17; Eph. 5:26.
xxiv In his invitation to biblical koinonia, the Apostle John writes, “truly our fellowship [koinonia] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3). That is central to doing church. It goes beyond horizontal friendships that revolve around a preferred activity. For further discussion of this see Richard W. Tow, Authentic Christianity: Studies in 1 John (Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2019), 1-11.
xxv The separation of common meal versus the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper was not as distinct as it is now in our observance. This separation is a response to corrections Paul made in 1 Cor. 11. Having said that, most conservative scholars understand “the breaking of bread” here as referencing the ordinance. Cf. I. Howard Marshall, The Acts of the Apostles, TNTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), 83; Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 160-161.
xxvi Luke 22:19. See also 1 Cor. 11:17-34.
xxvii Cf. Isa. 56:7: Matt. 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46.
xxviii Matt 22:37-38.
