Someone posted this on social media, “The people Jesus spent the most time with during His ministry are people most modern Christians would not want in their church.” The only thing I might disagree with in that statement is the word “most”. I know a lot of born again modern Christians from various churches who would greet all visitors to their church with open arms. I responded with two long comments. Here is a summary of the points I made in those comments.
As usual, I pointed out that Christianity is not a religion, but is a personal relationship between God and each individual believer. I conceded that “religious” Christians make it easy for non-believers to falsely stereotype us all.
The most important function of a Spirit filled Christian church is to become a spiritual “maternity ward” where sinners are helped through the process of spiritual rebirth. To perform that function you need sinners – the ones Jesus came to seek and to save and the ones we once were.
Another important function of a Spirit filled Christian church is to become a spiritual “fitness center” to provide spiritual nourishment and exercises to strengthen spiritual muscles through prayer, worship, Bible study and Christian fellowship, not just for new believers, but those in every stage of Christian life. When I started my blog seven years ago, my main goal was to mentor new believers about the Christian life from my experiences and the guidance of the Holy Spirit (my editor in chief). My website and posts have been hugely successful around the world, because it is God’s message, not mine. But that success might also indicate that many people haven’t found a spiritual fitness center in a local church and searched online until they found this blog.
Those aren’t the only two functions of a modern church, but without them a Christian church will not remain Spirit filled.