Simple Church Minute 85--Simson's Thesis #11

85—WS#11

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            These last few days, we’ve been looking at German writer Wolfgang Simson’s 15 Theses towards a Re-Incarnation of Church.  Today is Thesis #11, Stop bringing people to church, and start bringing church to people.  On this idea, Simson writes, “The church is changing back from being a Come structure to being a Go structure.  As a result, the church needs to stop trying to bring people “to church”, and start bringing the church to people.  The mission of the church will never be accomplished by just adding to the existing structure.  It will take nothing less than a mushrooming of the church through spontaneous multiplication into areas of the world where Christ is not yet known.” Unquote.

            The idea of bringing people to church is based on the idea that, somehow, each of us believers isn’t competent to direct another to life in Jesus, and that the preacher is somehow more prepared, like people will be wowed by the brilliance of the sermon.  Nothing shows us that that is true.  It our current society, people are hardened to sales pitches and aren’t convinced that ministers are more intelligent than they are.  Many have been sold that secular ideas are more correct, even if that was taught them by smoke-and- mirrors logic.  In Luke chapter 10 verses 1 through 13, Jesus sends seventy people who have been responsive to his words to go to a variety of towns and find people who will receive them and they find peace.  This is the place where Jesus says that a laborer is worthy of his wages.  It wasn’t directed to religious professionals, but towards persons to take the message of Jesus to places that it had not gone before, which appears to align more with the New Covenant’s description of apostles and workers.  This was to be the founding pattern of the apostles, to found a church in the home of a person open to the message of Jesus.

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