Grace - What's in a Church?

Hello!

Christian author Frank Viola recently wrote a description of why he has rejected the "institutional" church setting and embraced what he believes is the biblical model for believers living the Christian life.  It's pretty interesting; you should check it out.  Below are his ten positive points and a link to the article.

As you read the ten points below, I would suggest you ask yourself if these would accurately describe your current church experience:

1. My spiritual instincts were crying out for face-to-face community, mutual sharing, mutual receiving, and mutual submission.

2. I discovered that I can’t live the Christian life by myself (and neither can you).  [Merely] attending an institutional church service isn’t living the Christian life with others in a shared-life context.

3. I saw that God’s Eternal Purpose is bound up with a face-to-face, local, visible, visit-able corporate expression of Christ where every member functions under the Lord’s direct headship (rather than the headship of a man). So God’s ultimate intention is all about His ekklesia.

4. I saw from the New Testament that God’s heart beats for the Body of Christ in every locality to function under the Headship of His Son.  And this insight/revelation/seeing brought me to tears and wrecked me for life.

5. I discovered that when every member of the Body gives Christ to one another, after being equipped on how to do this, the experience is just below the glory of heaven. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a body of believers function under Christ’s headship without any one leading, facilitating, or controlling.

6. I wanted the fullness of Christ. And that’s only found when His Body — together — functions in a given place (1 Cor. 12-14).

7. I was shooting for spiritual depth and reality.

8. I longed for an environment where I could share the riches of Christ that were given to me and receive the riches of Christ that were given to the rest of the Body. (Not just from one or two members.)

9. I was seriously interested in transformation.  And I discovered that hearing sermons and singing worship songs led by a worship team doesn’t transform.  Hebrews 3 and 10 make clear that the antidote for apostasy and a hardened heart is mutual edification. “Exhorting one another. . . ”

10. I wanted to know Christ deeply, and I discovered that we can only comprehend “the breadth, depth, height, and know the love of Christ which passes knowledge” when we are “together with all saints.” It’s not an individualistic pursuit, but an intensely corporate (collective) one.

http://frankviola.org/2014/02/18/whyileftchurch/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wordpress%2Fviola+%28Beyond+Evangelical%29

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy