The first problem can be found in chapter 6, entitled "A Biblical Understanding of
Church Membership."1 Perhaps a better description, would be that I fear that this
could be a potential problem. This is for several reason: it is a major
misunderstanding in our community, there are many interpretations culturally, and
there is some disagreement among leadership. First, there are lots of churches in
my area that do not have membership. What does this have to do with my
situation? We have new members in our church that come from this context.
Leadership has not done much to ensure that new members know the difference
of what they came out of and what they have entered into to. It is not a "big deal"
as our community sees it. They see the lack of unity in the macro as being
prohibitive to enforce strict membership and discipline. A change in teaching
concerning the Body of Christ in the micro is needed. What I can so: begin
instilling the requirements in the youth2 and also bring it to the boards attention
during meetings.
The second problem is found in Chapter 5, "A Biblical Understanding of
Evangelism."3 Evangelism in my church context extends to inviting to Church and
answering questions of unbelievers. While there is nothing wrong with these
things, there is a lack of understanding what "biblical" evangelism is. There are
some in the midst of our body who are actively evangelizing correctly but it is not
church wide. I have begun to teach the youth about servant evangelism and their
personal testimony. I have taken some of the youth out and modeled it in front of
them. This has not reached beyond to d the greater body but I am hopeful that the
deacons and Senior Pastor will see this as a greater need by seeing the youth
faithfully ministering in this way.
The third problem that plagues us is "A Concern for Discipleship and Growth."4 If
someone in our church prayers for growth it is solely in the context of numbers. I
would say the church is split 70/30 with 70% not desiring or ignorant of it and 30%
actively seeking real growth.5 I see that the cultural understanding of those seeking
growth as being abnormal to some extent. They are not wrong, but their desire is
seen as their personal choice and that it is not normative for ALL believers. This
stems from the other problem, discipleship is and has been not existent in my
community for over 100 years. That is not embellishment but fact passed down by
those who were there. We simply have neglected new believers and are seeing
the fruits of it. We have adults who were handed a KJV and told to pray and figure
it out. Again, I am taking this issue seriously in the youth by implementing
discipleship. The board takes this seriously and we have been praying that the
Holy Spirit do what we can not in the lives of those in the church. We are seeing
some change in people but it is no way pervasive. This has become a major topic
of prayer during Wednesday prayer meetings. d
1 Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013), 155.
2 Ibid., 172.
3 Ibid., 127.
4 Ibid., 207.
5 Ibid., 210.
