Bulletin November 2021

Strategicresourcetraining   -   November 23, 2021

by Bruce Billington

A New Church Movement

I am interested today, to learn that many are claiming that the days of what we called the Charismatic, Pentecostal and/or Evangelical church are over and God is allowing the model to die in order to bring something new to us.

Of course, it is true that in recent times, even pre Covid, there has been a large exit of folk from these churches. This has been assisted in recent times by the emergence of the Digital Church, the shut down because of Covid and the rise of Zoom and other such technologies. Despite the compulsory restraints being lifted in many places now, pastors are reporting that many have not returned to their respective churches.

A recent survey of both churched and non-churched believers revealed that a key reason why many participants had become disenchanted was that these churches had failed to make known the character, acts, will and purposes of God, both for the lives of individuals and for the community or society at large.

Instead, they preach a very similar message that the humanists and new agers preach – how to get rich quick, how to have good health, how to get delivered from our problems and how to feel nice. These things are made possible by a narcissistic worldview, that knows little about the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, let alone its call to demonstrate it.

It is said that 60 million people got saved in the Charismatic movement during the ’60s and ’70s. Now, this should have had an enormous impact on the culture, but in reality, those of us who lived through this time saw little change.

Whatever form the church takes in the immediate future, and whatever is produced via the digital world we live in today, any church or church movement that desires to experience the fire of the Gospel, is going to have to excite a passion for the love of God and His truth, as portrayed in Scripture. This alone sustains Christian practice in this world. Nothing else will work. God won’t bless anything else. He never has.

So – what do we do? I have a few points that I think we must consider, and that are certainly essential to what embrace at SRT.

  1. We must establish a proper Biblical worldview – we cannot be the bride of Christ – His helpmeet – unless we know what He is endeavouring to achieve.
  2. We must stand on the complete Word of God – not just a few verses in the New Testament. We must be full gospel people with a theology for every aspect of life – rather than just so-called “spiritual things”.
  3. We must be a witness to, and participant of, the dunamis power of God. This is about His ability to invade any situation with power, conviction, healing and restoration.
  4. We must hold a proper, biblical procedure for dealing with sin in the camp. The Bible gives clear guidelines for this – some sin has to be addressed publicly because it affects the whole community – it is everyone’s business.
  5. We must have a true understanding of the sacraments and how they should be administered. These are sacred. The full meaning of Easter is that we are now living in God’s new (resurrection) age, under the hidden rule of Christ. Our role as redeemed citizens is to appropriate that.
  6. We need to understand what our calling is. We talk a lot about gifting – but don’t know how to apply it to the issues of life and the reformation of this world. Christianity isn’t something we tack on to the end of our lives. Its primary purpose is to know God and to fulfil the purpose for which He created us.
  7. We must return to worship. We don’t worship God just in the hope that we may call down His presence or power – that is manipulative. We worship Him because He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Our worship is our attempt, albeit very feeble, to acknowledge His Lordship and Majesty. It is not about what He does – it is all about who He is – the Living God at whose feet we need to fall in great humility.

These ideas are not original. The Bible is full of them. They are known as the Way of the Lord. The book of Acts is just one of the Biblical books that demonstrates these in action. They are age-old and timeless. They are given to us by the Ancient of Days.

They are essential to all who would seek to rebuild the ancient ruins; raise up the age-old foundations and restore the streets in which to dwell (Isaiah 58:12).

God bless you.
Bruce Billington