"Church Membership: Who Needs It?"

By Pastor Bruce K. Oyen and Pastor Mark Perry

Email: bk_oyen@hotmail.com

     Should a Christian join a local church, or just faithfully attend one? Although it was common in days past to join a church, it is not so common now. Many Christians now think faithful attendance is all that is necessary. Some even think that faithful attendance makes them a member.  But are they right in their opinion?

     If you want to read some good insight about the importance of church membership, read pastor Mark Perry's article on the subject. Here (in red) is the introduction to his article:

    Talk about church membership and people start to bristle. Perhaps some have been “burned” by a ministry in the past and fear repeating that scenario. Others cite a lack of perfect agreement with church policy or personnel. Still others are “just looking,” and plan to continue doing so indefinitely. Most simply resist the idea of committing to a long-term relationship with an assembly of believers, preferring the cafeteria-style approach of “take it or leave it.” Choosing a place to worship for many falls into the same category as selecting a wireless phone carrier: avoid long-term contracts and get the best service for the cheapest price.

     It doesn’t take long before somebody challenges, “Where in the Bible does it say ‘Thou shalt join a church’?” While no Bible verse explicitly commands church membership, there are several reasons every Christian should want to become a member of a sound, Bible-believing assembly of fellow believers. The question the New Testament leaves us with is “Why wouldn’t you want to join a local church?”

     Ample evidence abounds in the New Testament about membership in local churches even in those days. Furthermore, membership is essential for a local church to carry out its God-given mandate. Finally, church membership is an important part of the sanctification process for every Christian.

      To read Pastor Perry's complete article on the subject, click on the following link: http://obfvisitor.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/church-membership-who-needs-it/#more-194.

"Safeguarding Against Abuse In The Church"

By Pastor Bruce K. Oyen

Email: bk_oyen@hotmail.com

    Perhaps all of us have heard reports of children being sexually molested by teens or adults. And perhaps we have heard of other abuse that, though hidden for some time, finally comes to light.     Well, the sad fact is, the abusers sometimes are church leaders or other respected church attenders. Sometimes the abuse takes place in church buildings, or at church functions held elsewhere, such as at church camps.

    These facts prove that churches need to take practical steps to help keep such horrible things from being done on their property, or at their functions that are held elsewhere.

    And what about abuse that is not done on church property or at church functions, or by church attenders? In other words, what should we do if, for example, a child says to a  Sunday school teacher that his or her parents are being abusive in some way, but the child's parents don't attend the church? This abuse would include extreme forms of punishment for bad behavior. Such punishment might include not being allowed to eat for a few days, or made to stand out in the cold without wearing a coat and shoes.

    What follows is a link to a brief article about what churches can do to prevent or to deal with these problems. It is worth the few minutes it will take to read it, and the effort it will take to put the suggestions into action. Here's the link: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/gospeldrivenchurch/2012/12/13/safeguarding-against-abuse-in-the-church/. A summary of this article was first read at http://www.edstetzer.com/.

A Good Christian Magazine On The Internet

By Pastor Bruce K. Oyen

Email: bk_oyen@hotmail.com

      The Biblical Evangelist is a good Christian magazine that is available on the internet and by mail. Dr. Robert L. Sumner is its long-time editor, and the author of many books on Biblical subjects.. The magazine is staunchly conservative in its theology and provides material that is good for non-Christians, new Christians, and not-so-new Christians. The articles will stir hearts and educate minds in Biblical truths. To read it on the internet, click on this link: http://www.biblicalevangelist.org/. Then, look at the left-hand side and click on the subjects that interest you. Note that back issues can be read online, too. Happy reading!

    

The Pastor's Home Can Be A Place of Fellowship, Worship, And Bible Study

By Pastor Bruce K. Oyen

E-mail: bk_oyen@hotmail.com

House Church

     One of the most personally-enriching things my wife and I have done over the years is to have groups of church people over to our house. Many times we have had smaller groups over, just for food and fellowship. Many other times we have had larger groups over for the same reason. And many  times we have had larger groups over for informal church services and Bible studies, instead of doing these things in the church building. We always include food and drinks. Sometimes we provide it all, sometimes we have a potluck meal.

     It was common in the days of the apostles of Jesus Christ to meet in homes for what we might call "church services." After all, "the local church" is not a special building, but a group of believers with Scriptural leaders who have banded together for Scriptural purposes. They might meet in a special building dedicated to those purposes. Or they might meet at other locations, such as outside, in a barn, in a school, or in a home.

     Consider some New Testament examples of churches meeting in homes. First, in Acts 12:1 - 4 we read that Peter was in prison because of his Christian faith. And verse 5 tells us "prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him." We can assume that the believers prayed for him in their daily lives. But verse 12 tells us that after Peter was released from prison, he went to the house of Mary, "where many were gathered together praying." They felt no obligation to pray in a special building, so they prayed at Mary's house. Second, Paul wrote a letter to a man named Philemon. In verse two, he made reference to Apphia and Archippus, and to the church in his house. What did they do in that house? The same things we do in church buildings: they fellowshipped, they prayed, they worshipped, and they had teaching and preaching from God's Word.

     I am not advocating that we quit using what we call "church buildings." What I am saying is, even if we use such buildings, we do not have to have all or most church meetings in them. We can meet elsewhere. The Bible gives us liberty to do so. A meeting in a church building is no more sacred than one held at another location.

     That being so, let me say again that the pastor's home can be a place of fellowship, worship, and Bible study. Therefore, I challenge my fellow-pastors to use this richly-rewarding means of involvement with your congregations. Invite them over for informal times of food and fellowship. But also have some of your Sunday evening meetings and Wednesday evening meetings at your house. These times together will lead the Christians who are involved into a greater sense of belonging to the fellowship of believers. And, if non-Christians are present, it can be a tool  to lead them to salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.
     Of course, this works best with small congregations. Pastors with larger congregations will have to consider what works for them.

    

Church Services Should Be Evangelistic

By Pastor Bruce K. Oyen
Email: bk_oyen@hotmail.com

Jesus Saves

Church services are mostly for the worship of God and for the benefit of Christians.

    In a recent posting called, "Some Thoughts About Church Services," I pointed out that church services should be primarily God-centered, not man-centered. That is, we should gather together as Christians to worship God. But it was also pointed out that one of the purposes of church services is to expose Christians to the preaching and teaching of the Word of God, by which they can be made stronger Christians.

      According to the New Testament, evangelism is not to be the primary reason for church services. And when we make it the primary purpose for them, it often results in the Christians not being given enough spiritual food from the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Even worse, it often results in church services being designed to appeal to non-Christians. This is done by means that shift our focus away from the worship of God. This attempt to appeal to non-Christians is frequently characterized by making services seem less and less like worship services. It has correctly been called "Christianity lite"  and "cotton candy Christianity." Some churches even say their services are "fun." I like to have fun, but a  church service is not the place for it. That is what happens when we shift the focus from God to ourselves.
    Of course, it is perfectly acceptable to have special services for the primary purpose of winning the lost to faith in Jesus Christ. That is a good thing to do, so long as we don't compromise our message and methods in order to win the lost. But that is not my subject. My subject is the regular services of the church.

But church services should be evangelistic.

      Having said these things, let me clearly say that church services should be evangelistic. This does not mean they should always be evangelistic, or primarily evangelistic. It simply means that the Gospel should be made known at our services, and an opportunity given for any non-Christians in attendance to become Christians by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Some ways by which a church service can be evangelistic.

• A pastor's sermon can easily include the Gospel message, even if it is not primarily an evangelistic message. It can be stated briefly, but still be effective. He can give an invitation to believe in Jesus Christ at any point in his sermon.
• The Gospel can be made known through the music used in church services. Even if most of the music on a  given day is not evangelistic, some of it can be. The Lord has used such music to speak to the hearts of many non-Christians.
• Someone can give his or her testimony of how they came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, and what it means to them. This is a powerful evangelistic tool.
• Several persons can simply tell the year, and maybe the exact day, of when they got saved. This brief statement of fact gets the attention of non-Christians.
• An evangelistic tract can be handed out with the church bulletin. Non-Christians who are present will read it, and Christians can give it away.

Some concluding thoughts to the subject.

     We should remember that our primary reasons to have church services should be to worship God, and to strengthen Christians in their walk with Jesus Christ. This is done by preaching and teaching the Word of God to them. But we should always take opportunity to make the Gospel known to any non-Christians who might be in attendance. Countless persons have become Christians because this was done at church services.

Are you a Christian?

    If  you are not a Christian, and want to become one, click on the following link and read the message. It will tell you how you can become a Christian right now.
    Here's the link: http://www.godssimpleplan.org/gsps-english.html

   

A Good Resource For Making Disciples

By Pastor Bruce K. Oyen

Email: bk_oyen@hotmail.com

    My good friend, Dr. James  P. Steel, has a lot of ministry experience under his belt. He has been a church planter, a pastor, former President of Cornerstone Bible Institute in Hot Springs, SD, and a  Bible conference speaker. But he is also very involved in his own Christian website ministry, by which he seeks to help Christians in their daily lives, and by which he seeks to win non-Christians to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he knows how important it is to disciple new Christians, or not-so-new Christians, into strong ones. Therefore, he actively promotes discipleship materials. 

    What follows is a link to  a short video presentation by Dr. Steel on discipleship, and practical material to use for discipling others. I hope you will take time to look at it, and, perhaps, use the material it promotes.     

    Here's the link: http://vimeo.com/55413735

Some Thoughts About Church Services

By Pastor Bruce K. Oyen

Email: bk_oyen@hotmail.com

For many Christians, church services are an important part of life.

    This is understandable for a few reasons, a primary one being the fact that the first Christians, who lived 2.000 years ago, participated in them, and the tradition has been carried on since then. Later, we will consider why this tradition has continued since the first century A. D. It has to do with the Biblical purposes of church services.

For Christians, our most important writings are what we call "the New Testament."

    We consider them to be on the same level as the Old Testament writings. That is, we consider them to be the written Word of God. To us, both Testaments go together. To us, the New Testament is, so to speak, the child of the Old Testament. To us, the Old Testament led to the New Testament. To us, they are complimentary to one another, and we need them both. Therefore, the Christian Bible has them together under one cover.

    Much more could be said about this subject. But for now, consider this important fact: though we Christians believe the whole Bible to be the Word of God, we believe that much of its divine guidance for daily life is found in the New Testament portion of it. And we believe that its divine guidance  for church life is exclusively found there.

    We do acknowledge that the Old Testament contains much moral guidance that applies to us now. The Book of Proverbs is a good example of such guidance. But the Old Testament does not contain guidance for local churches. For example, it does not tell us about baptism and the Lord's supper. It does not tell us about church discipline. It does not tell us about a local church's leaders. It does not tell us about the divine origin of the church, and when it started. And it does not tell us about  the purposes of the local church. So, we turn to the New Testament for what we need to know about these subjects. Let's consider just one of these subjects.

What were the purposes of the church services in the days of the apostles?

    One of the most important questions we can ask about the church services of the  first Christians is this one: What were the purposes of their church services? Most of our information about this is found, not in the four Gospels of the New Testament, but in the New Testament's Book of Acts, and in the letters (sometimes called "epistles") that come after the Book of Acts. If we carefully look at the New Testament  for our answer to this question, we will discover what the purposes of OUR OWN church services should be.

The heart of this posting 

    This is really the heart of this posting: we need to learn from the New Testament what should be the purposes of OUR OWN church services. And then we need to make those purposes our own purposes.

    Let me suggest to you some of the reasons Christians in the days of the apostles had church services. They had these purposes:

• To participate in the worship of God.
• To be taught the Word of God, and transformed by it.
• To have the Lord's supper. (Baptisms often took place in rivers and elsewhere.)
• To have fellowship with other Christians who attended the services.
• To give testimony to the saving power of Jesus Christ to non-Christians in attendance.

A lesson from a dart board

     Most of us have seen a dart board. For teaching purposes, let me suggest to you that God is represented by the bull's eye. In our church services, God, not us, is to be the center of attention. Moving out from the center, we come next to the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Then we come to the Lord's supper. Then we come to Christian fellowship. Then, we come to evangelism, which is giving testimony to the saving power of Jesus Christ.

     If you have read carefully through the New Testament, that is what you have found. It might be good to re-read, for example, Acts 2:41 - 47; and Acts 17, 18, 19, and 20 to see the emphasis on these things. It might be good to re-read, for example, First and Second Thessalonians, and the pastoral letters (First and Second Timothy, and Titus) to see the same emphasis.

A common mistake in many of today's Bible-believing churches

    It is a common mistake in many Bible-believing churches these days to displace God from the center of the church services, and put human beings in his place. In our eagerness to win others to the Lord Jesus Christ, or to keep the Christians coming, we put them at the center, and then shape our services around them. This is a serious mistake. It is a reason so little solid Bible teaching is found in these churches. It is a reason sins are not spoken against like they should be. It is a reason so little warning about about common false doctrines is heard in these churches. It is a reason so many who claim to be Christians don't think and act much differently from those who don't claim to be Christians. It is a reason why worshipful music has been replaced with entertaining music.

What needs to be done in many churches

    Many churches need to be honest and admit what has happened, and then takes steps to put things back into their proper order.