Good Morning All,
I believe the first question we were to consider is "What does today's evangelical culture consider a strong church?" The first thought that came into my mind was programming. I believe that most churches think that if they can just run the right programs the right way that the body will be strong. And I believe that the scorecard for success in these programs most of the time is the number of bodies participating and giving.
How does this differ from Paul's understanding of a mature church? Maybe a lot, maybe not much.... In the multiple passages of scripture that we read for this Issue I see the following list of characteristics of a strong church: preaching the gospel, strengthening the disciples, encourage to remain true to the faith, appointed elders, grew daily in numbers, imparting of spiritual gifts, not unsettled by trials, love increase for each other, strengthen in every good deed and word.
The main difference that I see here is the nature of the heart impact in many of the terms that are used in Acts and Paul's epistles. Paul is encouraging heart change and maturity amongst the body. Though from the outside a well programmed, but shallow church may not look that much different from what Paul would consider a strong church. A true evaluation would need to have an intimate relationship with that body to gauge the the heart health of the body. But obviously there would be a lot more depth to the programming in a Pauline strong church.
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Not being the first to post has its disadvantages, in that, you lose originality.
In the early church, particularly under Paul's instruction and guidance the church was focused on the Gospel message, Christ as the administrator and developing the church body through fellowship and like-mindedness. I also believe that the church focused on development one believer at a tim, thereby making the journey dependent on all the members to grow the church spiritually and number wise.
Today, its by mass and all too often merely focused on the numbers. I see churches trying to share the Gospel by lightening it up. We need to return to a strong Gospel message, which I believe we are receiving from Kevin and Todd (through the Holy Spirit), so the foundation of the church remains strong.
Also, as mentioned before, we are program driven and not Christ centered. The message is strong but we seem to think that programs can somehow strengthen and grow the church.
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