Problem Areas
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! 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.!
!
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.
