MARRIED -
FAMILY - FELLOWSHIP -
NETWORKING CHURCH
At the beginning God
created man and in Genesis 2 v 18 said "It
is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper
comparable to him” So God created woman and presented her to
Adam as an helpmate and Adam said:" This is now bone of my
bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." 24Therefore a man shall leave his
father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh.
God’s plan and model has always therefore been a man and a
wife joined as one flesh to bring up children and become a family. Satan’s strategy therefore is to break up
the family, separate man and woman and
say “did God really say “it is not good that man should be alone” Think of what fun one can have as an
individual, without
responsibilities, without constraints of
responsibilities which comes from having a spouse, without having to worry about children and
all that means. And in recent years
that plan has worked. People have
swallowed the lie and have developed the culture of the individual. Of not having any responsibility for one
another. For each to be able to do
their own thing without the slightest worry of consequence for one
another. If there is any
problems, if there are children, if there is sickness, disability or infirmity through old age then
let someone else look after them.
Better still let the state take
over that responsibility.
Over the years
the church has allowed the enemy of our souls strategy to work simply by the church just remaining silent and taking
marriage for granted. It has not actively been teaching the congregation what and why
marriage is God’s best plan. So when
people say why do we need to get married we have no answer except custom and
respectability. Nor have we celebrated
marriage except on the day of the wedding.
(How many churches as a congregation for instance celebrate wedding anniversaries?) As we really have no answer to why we need to
be married, under the guise of
compassion, understanding, tolerance etc we allow our congregation to not be married but just live together. Likewise for the same reasons single parents become not an issue. Because the slippery slope is gentle and
easy to slide down, we did not notice until we now found ourselves in a position
where we struggle against the idea that all life styles are equally valid and
there are numerous models for “family”. Satan’s strategy has worked.
One of the Christian church’s tasks therefore must be
to counter the lie and restore the family as God intended it to be. Firstly, by restoring marriage back to its
rightful place then teach people how to bring up children and Finally encourage people to
take responsibly for each other. Help them overcome debt which is one of the biggest contributor to the breakup of
family. Restore self respect, esteem and help avoid debt by helping to find
jobs or voluntary work.
This individual churches have spasmodically tried to
do, according to the mood of the moment
or space in the church programme.
This has always therefore been ineffective and amateurish. The alternative has been the creation of
para-church organisations which although overcoming the problems incurred by
individual churches, it easily becomes
separated (divorced even) from the original church from which it sprung. Growth and success means more resources
(people, funds etc) and so the para-church starts to draw on non-church resources. These resources although sympathetic to the
Christian beliefs and values, end up
drowning out the Christian voice. The alternative is for the para-church organisation remains small and amateurish and even shrinks as
church funds are diverted to other worthy causes. Another disadvantage with para-church is
they so often give themselves names which don’t readily tell the world they are
a Christian organisation. They then find for fund raising purposes not offend or upset those they are trying to help, downplay their Christian values and
concepts. Another problem which eventually arises with the advent of para-church organisations as it stray further and further away from it's church roots is churches become seen as
irrelevant as far as the world is concerned with no answers to people’s
problems or needs.
A third option would be to create church network. Each activity remaining within it’s own church / structure, promoting it’s
own church and growing within itself but at the same time supported and helped
by other churches in the network where and when needed, e.g. training, more specialist help, expertise etc. Shared manpower for instance. Each individual church grows (or shrinks) according to it’s own
efforts and resources at it’s disposal. Each
can decide to specialise in a particular area depending on the vision of that
particular church, commitment and abilities. The specialised church can then offer it’s
skills and resources to the other churches in the network. Provide training for the other churches and
more detailed in depth skills for the other churches who have need for a person
with more expertise than they can provide.
For instance, all churches can
provide within their resources befrienders who encourage those who need such
befriending to their own congregation.
Within that congregation “listeners” can be trained by trainers from one
of the larger or specialist churches.
From the team of “listeners, counsellors trained to meet more in depth
needs. Each counsellor remaining within
their own congregation and called upon by other churches as needed.
The advantage of networking
1.
Each group is accountable to it’s own leadership
and part of the local vision
2.
People in need of help are drawn to/directed the
local church and so help build up the local fellowship
3.
Local churches are seen as relevant to the needs
of the area
4.
Funds/resources remain within the local
fellowship and can be seen as benefiting the local community
5.
Relationships built with other churches
especially the larger churches without it being seen as the “mother” church
Edward Noble
25 October 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment