Reimagining The End-Time Church

Late one evening a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee to the roof. His father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, desperately calling out to his son, “Jump! I’ll catch you!” The father knew that his son had to jump to save his life. But the child could scarcely see through the flames, smoke, and twilight. Because he was absolutely petrified by the idea of plunging blindly into the darkness, his father kept shouting, “Jump! I will catch you!” The young boy timidly protested, crying out, “ Daddy, I can’t see you!” The father wisely and calmly replied, “But I can see you, son, and that’s all that matters.” Implicit in this anecdotal story are two critically important questions for the institutional church: (1) Are we truly trusting the Light of the World to navigate through the monumental, ever-deepening darkness of this world system? (2) Are we now more focused on our individual or collective status-in-life vis-à-vis establishing and sustaining spiritually healthy relationships with the Savior of life? Candidly, the institutional church stands in extreme danger of abdicating its God-ordained identity, vision, and mission due to an escalating emphasis on politics, power, prestige, positions, and possessions, as opposed to advancing our foundational kingdom mandate and message. Many organizations appear to be abandoning their theological roots, thus annulling their divinely intended destinies and gradually morphing into secular assemblies. Thus, they are in the process of becoming the posterchildren of institutional ambition run amok. As a result, we eagerly engage in distracting diatribes to support our carnal quests for intra-organizational power. We are curiously resemblant of ‘Who’s on First and What’s on Second,’ [the classic comedic routine of Abbott and Costello], as we deploy cynical, calculated, Machiavellian maneuvers to gain advantage over peers. While we energetically pursue upward mobility in the hierarchy (and its coveted perks), the message of the cross and the mission of soul-winning become secondary considerations. Bottom-line: Much of our current state of affairs is an absolute disgrace, a major travesty, an unprecedented erosion of our scriptural core values--marking the rapid decline or disintegration of once highly esteemed organizations--in full view of God and in plain view of man. In truth, many groups are straying extremely far from former faith foundations and derailing the potential effectiveness of our gospel witness. Nevertheless, the most damaging hallmark of our 21st-century ministries is a profound paucity in proclaiming the unadulterated gospel—miserably failing to exalt “Christ and him crucified.” Instead, a disproportionate segment of contemporary church messaging promulgates the hollow teachings of humanism and self-improvement, while the life-changing ministry and teachings of Jesus Christ are relegated to honorable mention status. Thus, substantial segments of time, talent, and treasure are siphoned off to actualize personal growth and development, or to energize corollary crusades for status and success. A grave, systemic problem looms large. Something is terribly wrong. That is, church bodies have now been invaded by a deadly cancer of self-aggrandizing behavior. We desperately need to identify and excise it. Institutional church leaders and laity have unwittingly created and supported power-mongering, hierarchical monstrosities that are characterized by rugged individualism, superficial showmanship, and unabashed greed. When will we collectively return to doing everything (including all administrative and fiscal matters) in the Bible way--in God’s way? Two key questions are begged: (1) How is it that successive generations of leadership and laity seem increasingly focused on individual advancement and empire-building, as opposed to spiritual wholeness and kingdom-building? (2) Why are we so obsessed with numerical and fiscal growth, in contrast with the biblical mission of soul-saving and selfless service? Unbridled ambition, unchecked covetousness, influence peddling, and other patently carnal agendas are becoming the acceptable order of our day. Along with these untoward attitudes and actions, a not-so-subtle form of idolatry has systematically infiltrated our organizational structures, and even our worship services. The creature is typically exalted above the Creator. Such heresy has become an integral component of our institutional gatherings, satanically woven into the very fabric of our collective consciousness. We must be mindful that The Almighty will never tolerate or brook lesser gods, be they inanimate or human. We are haphazardly discarding our God-ordained identity, gradually changing from what we once were, transforming into pretentious and highfaluting versions of our former selves. Can we honestly contest candid external assessments? Have we abandoned our identity and integrity? Have we somehow lost our way? The simple facts are these: We certainly look the part--we actually appear to be great, grandiose, and good--but we are immeasurably confused and unquestionably lost. Especially problematic is the fact that in far too many assemblies, the power of God is noticeably dormant or altogether absent. Bona fide instances of personal deliverance and authentic miracles are now in absolute decline, both being major components of our Biblical heritage and denominational identities. Dare we say “ichabod,” the glory of the Lord has departed?