I have been a pastor for 34 years and a
denominational executive for 6 years. I have understanding of the organization
we call the contemporary Christian church. It is with unthreatened objectivity
and clarity that I can now examine church as I practiced and promoted it; as I
watched it evolve and transition to meet cultural challenges; and as I envision
it to be in the mind and the Word of God.
Those three viewpoints are not
contradictory, yet I am compelled by the knowledge that church was simple yet
uber-dynamic just minutes after the Holy Spirit ly decades later emerged in
Rome and over time became known as the Roman Catholic Church. It looked nothing
like reformation groups that broke away but soon related strength and
solidarity not with doctrinal affiliation but with bureaucracy and governance.
What was forgotten so soon after Jesus
ascended was that He, Jesus, the Christ, is central and foremost and all who
are "in Christ" are members of the family of God, the Church, without
need for any further initiation, assimilation, confirmation, or certification.
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