I have heard some recent IRL discussion, and also read some thoughts from friends online, about "seeker friendly" churches, and the concept of "watering down" the Word of God. This has caused my propensity for deep, introspective thinking to kick in over the last few days.
Last December, the church that we had attended for 12 years closed its doors. Not regularly attending church is NOT an option in our home, so we were off on a search.
Both my husband and I had grown up in mostlty Baptist churches, but my Dad is an evangelist who often preached in churches of other denominations, so I did have some frame of reference beyond the independant Baptist church. In our searching, we did NOT limit our options to churches with "Baptist" in the name.
We made many discoveries along the way, and were hit with many realizations. One thing we came to realize is that there are a LOT of "seeker friendly" churches out there today. Now, for purposes of experssiing my own thoughts, my definition of a seeker friendly chuch is one that focuses on NEW believers~those who have turned to the church looking for answers to their questions, or looking to fill a "void" in their life.
The problem I have with this whole concept is that EVERY church SHOULD be seeker friendly!! By that I mean that any solidly Bible based church ought to be able to point the lost toward Christ, and nurture them along the way. The trouble with many of the churches we visited was that they focused on a lot of "gimmicks" to get folks into the church, and then pushed these folks to "make a decision for Christ", then, they seem to just leave people hanging!! They offer only the "milk" of the Word, and never seem to serve any "meat".
It IS important to offer the milk of the Word to a new believer, but it is equally important to offer the meat, and to foster growth in those that have been converted, rather than to concentrate ALL your efforts, energies, and resources on bringing in more new converts.
One of the many reasons why I love the church that the Lord finally led us to join is that we have elements that will attract the lost, thus allowing them to hear about Christ, to receive the milk of the Word. However, there are also wonderful times of dining on the meat of the Word of God~times that I couldn't live without.
I don't think there is ever a need to "water down" the Word of God. I think it all comes down to, as 2 Timothy 2:15 says, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. If we have the milk of the Word to give to new christians, there is no need to further "water it down". The Word of God is sufficient for everyone, containing both milk and meat. The important thing we must do is to learn to discern the milk from the meat, and share both appropriately with those who need it. There is no such thing as a perfect church, but a church that can rightly divide the Word in this way is certainly on the right path. I am SO thankful to Our Heavenly Father for allowing us to be part of such a church.
Blessings,
Mom23munchkins
Comments
Posted by Anonymous