Bride of Christ or Bride of Frankenstein?
So - bob and mary x move into a new town - fresh from seminary to plant a church (heck, maybe its their 10th church plant but planting what remains to be seen).
They locate a few others - meet in a home, get to 15, split into 2 groups, not everyone is happy with the loss of attachment so they rent a small room in a school for sunday mornings to 'be together' and also have the bonus of new found visibility. Before long, they have had significant transfer growth and are feeling the leadership squeeze. They recognise that they are largely pastoral teacher in gift mix as a couple (which is why theyve done a great job of creating a sheep fold) and begin to pray about who has the other five fold gifts - b4 long they have people in those roles.
Whats wrong with that picture apart from the fact that yet another church has been built on the gifts of the pastor teacher in total contradiction to scripture which says on the foundation of Prophets and Apostles - but hey. No the real issue is we have another 'microcosm' church that thinks God has asked it to reach the town. They cant - actually - cause we can only enter together, cross into together. By default they have formed an isolated unit (but sure they have unity vicariously cause their pastor is in a leaders network - right?) and they continue to pray more gifts into their body, more eyes arms and legs.
Helloooooooooooooooooooo what youve got is NOT a body, it cant possibly be A or Thee body cause the only biblical metaphor of body is in the context that WE in the entire locality are Thee Body.
So im sorry - but what youve got is a limb, at best an oversized limb. At worst youve got a large limb which youve tried to sow a hand onto and maybe graft in an eye - even three, but it probably looks like frankenstiens monster - or frankenstien monstors bride.
You cant have a whole gift mix - you cant have all the limbs - God isnt going to give you the whole picture, there is no way God is going to allow you to re enforce isolation, separatism, elitism or denomo'nationalism'. Or is God really into that?
Then....once we have a fuller picture of Body which in true interdendance we are living out of in our locality - then we realise that body language is universal, that in fact, my town has a distinctive nature that requires help from other towns and cities and they in turn have need of us and then.............. as nations we recognise we have something distinctive to bring to the global table and we ourselves have desperate need to eat there also. (sowing seeds for revival - martin scott)
Are we assisting God, or asking God to assist us in a course we have already set sail on?
I dont want to be Eegore!
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