The Church Awakening.

There are those today who are critical of what church services have become. I think that much of their criticism is very valid. One of the criticisms is that the evangelical church has become a place for what many call worshiptainment, a mixture of worship and entertainment.

Chuck Swindol has written a book dealing with this subject titled "The Church Awakening: An Urgent Call to Renewal." The product description of Chuck's book from CBD is:

"..Swindoll exposes the problems of - and offers solutions for- the entertainment-based postmodern evangelical church. Revealing why and how far we've drifted from the truth, he shows how a return to biblical preaching and teaching will restore the life-altering strength and impact of the Bride of Christ. ..."

I'm not criticizing Chuck or his book. I have yet to read it, but will and will post my review here once I do. But this product description got me thinking again on what the solutions to the state of the modern church are. Is a "return to biblical preaching and teaching" really what will "restore the life altering strength and impact" of the church? My view is that proper teaching is only part of the solution needed in this postmodern church age (whatever that means?).

AS EACH ONE DOES THEIR WORK

In the letter to the Ephesians Paul has this to say about teaching and the building up of the body of Christ.

Eph. 4:11-16 NIV (Biblegateway)

11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

First notice that elders don't just function as preachers and teachers as the modern church makes it. But elders function as apostles (church planters), prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. The function or office of preacher is not a NT idea, but one developed by the Reformation teachers to replace the office of the Roman Catholic priest.

The job of the elders is "to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up". So yes, the elders are vital to the work of properly building up the body of Christ. Paul even says that the elders functioning in these capacities are gifts from Christ to men. Unfortunantly the modern church for the most part has neglected three of these functions and tends to lump the last two listed by Paul into one man. Where the early church had five functions of elders, we now have one man functioning in an assembly.

Part of the solution for the postmodern evangelical church is a true restoration of these five functions of elders. Some in the last century have tried to restore the so-called five fold ministry, to limited success. Most of the failure I think is because they tried to fit these functions into the modern church system, mostly changing titles of already existing offices. With no real changes in functions of any one. Others have taken on titles in an atttempt to lend credibility to "Their Ministry", giving them an air of authority and superiority compared to others.

They use titles such as Apostle .... and Prophet...

Next look at the purpose of the elders functions, their job, (if you will). It is to serve the rest of the assembly, by preparing them for "works of service", so that the body of Christ may be built up. Add to this part what concludes this passage and I think we get a full picture of a solution. "...builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."

The elders, in their five areas of function work to prepare the assemly to do their works of service and as each one does their loving work of service the body of Christ is built up.

Only with the whole church functioning in every area of service, can the body of Christ, the church be built up. It will take good biblical teaching, that is part of what guides the church to know and be encouraged in works of service. But that is only part of the solution.