So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. -- Acts 9: 31 (ESV)
The key verse is after the conversion of Paul, when the fledgling Christian church finally had a respite from the vicious early persecution. We see here that the church was being built up. We know from other passages that only God gives the increase so He was building His early church. The believers play a role though. The Bible says we are ambassadors of reconciliation for Christ. Does this verse from Acts reveal some implementation of purpose driven marketing schemes or seeker friendly outreach initiatives? Does it indicate that those that comprised the early church needed to step aside for the concern about those coming in? No beloved. It simply says that they walked in fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit and as a result the church multiplied. When you combine within believers fearing God to obey His Word and empowerment by the Holy Spirit to live out that fear in comfort then you end up with that shining city on a hill. That is how the church stands out and is different. That is how we become ambassadors of reconciliation for Christ. To hear false teachers tell it today however, the sheep are just greedy and selfish and need to get out of the way of the purpose driven church reaching out to the goats of this world. That everyone should be randomly "ministering" to everyone else, marginalizing the true role of leadership within the church. Above is a link to the latest attack upon the church by Kris Vallotton from Bethel. Let us reason together once more beloved:
"Church hopping, church skipping and church judging is all too common these days. It seems that many people are struggling to find the "right" church with the "right" pastor who has the "right preaching style." Maybe you struggle with this in a less overt way. Perhaps you go to church and feel bored or disillusioned. Or maybe going to church is just a part of your Sunday routine that you don't think about when Monday comes along." -- Kris Vallotton
As Kris tries to lay the foundation for his purpose driven message, he stumbles over some compelling truths he simply does not understand. First he conflates things that do not belong together -- church hopping, skipping and judging. Beloved it does not matter to a purpose driven pastor why you are not in his church that Sunday. Your absence is not part of the successful business model. In the Rick Warren model, you are the cheap labor. Heck, you are the free labor. Whether you are a talented voice in the choir to the parking attendant, to the leader of the security ministry, you serve a greater purpose to put on the Sunday show and bring in the next batch of cheap labor, I mean lost souls. The truly ironic thing is Kris lists these three grievous sins against the church without realizing it is the church that is to blame. I have heard the myth of church hoppers ever since I have been saved but in the 16 years since my conversion I don't recall ever seeing one. I consider them like Bigfoot. An urban legend dreamed up by church leadership to convince more people to join the rolls of membership. Assuming that Bigfoot is real, the problem the church hopper is dealing with and the church skipper as well is that the church simply no longer offers the real Christian with any sane reason to get up on Sunday morning. I remember when I left my church after over a decade of service that many of my friends stayed but they did so for social reasons, not scriptural reasons. Once the church shifted focus from feeding the sheep to entertaining the goats it was only a matter of time before the sheep left in search of food. Not to mention that Warren teaches pastors through the Purpose Driven Church to remove any dissenting sheep through blessed subtraction. As for church judging, Vallotton is just trying to deflect the voluminous criticisms piling up against the cesspool he calls church, Bethel. By the way, that is not judging the church but rather the teachings that come from it. Fake glory clouds, gold dust, gemstones, angel feathers, false signs and lying wonders, prosperity gospels, the NAR and dominionism, mandatory healing and a school to teach the gifts of the Holy Spirit to unsuspecting rubes. The teachings emanating from Bethel are rancid and poisonous to the actual church of Jesus Christ. Vallotton continues:
"Today, I'm here to tell you that life in the body of Christ is so much richer than simply showing up on a Sunday to consume. What if finding a church was less about showing up to be taught something, and more about being a blessing to the people around you? I want to encourage you today with a fresh perspective on the real point of church. It may be different than how you've been approaching it. Check out this video for more (Vallotton summarizes with bullet points):" -- Kris Vallotton
Yeah Kris, that is not a fresh perspective at all. Rick Warren wrote about it in the mid-1990s. His vision was to have mega churches on every corner selling a milquetoast, watered down, sugared up gospel that will save no one but grow these monstrous pyramid schemes with the vision casting pastor dude sitting at the top raking in the bucks. As outlined above, one of the keys is selling the notion that God has a mighty purpose for everyone when there is actually no biblical text to support that. Sometimes living a mundane existence in reverent fear of the Lord is enough beloved. What Kris still does not get, as well as Warren, is that they are doing church the opposite of what the Bible outlines:
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. -- Acts 2: 42-478 (ESV)
