George Bullard wrote a fascinating article entitled "Will your congregation still exist in 10 years?" That is a very appropriate question in light of my thinking about a national spiritual and cultural restoration in America by year 2020.
The biblical church of Christ is the great and inclusive group of believers wherever they may be found in the world at any given time. But, it is the local assembly of believers...the local church...which is modeled in the New Testament and through which God has chosen to perform most of his work in the world.
So, if America is to be restored spiritually, what becomes of these local churches. Answer...many current congregations will die...slowly and painfully...because they have lost a sense of biblical purpose and have replaced it with determined preservation of the patterns and habits of "doing" church.
Any believer seeking robust vitality in a relationship with Christ will avoid such places like the plague. Those congregations will simply age, decline, and, ultimately, die. Vance Havner described this way, "the history of the church is revealed in four words...a man; a movement; a machine; and a monument."
Read Bullard's article, and share it with your local fellowship. Get ready for the restoration of America. http://www.thealabamabaptist.org/print-edition-article-detail.php?id_art=13596
More later.
