Title: What Is a Church? (1 of 6)
Series: Rediscover Church
Author: Tim Badal
Text: Matthew 16:13-18
"A church is a group of Christians who assemble as an earthly embassy of Christ's heavenly kingdom to proclaim the good news and commands of Christ the King; to affirm one another as His citizens through the ordinances; and to display God's own holiness and love through a unified and diverse people in all the world, following the teaching and example of elders." (Jonathan Leeman and Collin Hansen, Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ is Essential, p. 124.)
We're kicking off a series titled "Rediscover Church." In 2020, with the global pandemic striking the world, the question came out: what things are essential? As we sought to understand what Covid 19 was all about and how bad it was going to be, the governments around the world said, "We need to establish what can continue and what needs to stop." Then they used this word "essential." What is essential? What is necessary to continue on? The question of whether church was essential or not was debated by churches everywhere and by society everywhere. Actually that discussion had been going on in America long before Covid 19 broke out and the results are staggering.
Over the last 50 years, many would say church attendance was an important thing for Christ followers, hovering around 70%. In the last 20 years, the question of whether the church is essential or not has fallen on hard times. We have dropped from the average of 70% down to 47% of Americans who agree that church is an important thing. To give you an idea of how significant this drop is, if this trend doesn't change, in 40 years there won't be any churches at all. That should sober us.
We need to realize these statistics also tell a grander story. We have fallen for a myth that probably isn't just being believed here in America, but actually all over the world because of globalization-the myth that the church isn't necessary. People bel ...
Series: Rediscover Church
Author: Tim Badal
Text: Matthew 16:13-18
"A church is a group of Christians who assemble as an earthly embassy of Christ's heavenly kingdom to proclaim the good news and commands of Christ the King; to affirm one another as His citizens through the ordinances; and to display God's own holiness and love through a unified and diverse people in all the world, following the teaching and example of elders." (Jonathan Leeman and Collin Hansen, Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ is Essential, p. 124.)
We're kicking off a series titled "Rediscover Church." In 2020, with the global pandemic striking the world, the question came out: what things are essential? As we sought to understand what Covid 19 was all about and how bad it was going to be, the governments around the world said, "We need to establish what can continue and what needs to stop." Then they used this word "essential." What is essential? What is necessary to continue on? The question of whether church was essential or not was debated by churches everywhere and by society everywhere. Actually that discussion had been going on in America long before Covid 19 broke out and the results are staggering.
Over the last 50 years, many would say church attendance was an important thing for Christ followers, hovering around 70%. In the last 20 years, the question of whether the church is essential or not has fallen on hard times. We have dropped from the average of 70% down to 47% of Americans who agree that church is an important thing. To give you an idea of how significant this drop is, if this trend doesn't change, in 40 years there won't be any churches at all. That should sober us.
We need to realize these statistics also tell a grander story. We have fallen for a myth that probably isn't just being believed here in America, but actually all over the world because of globalization-the myth that the church isn't necessary. People bel ...
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