The view that many nonbelievers hold of the Church is not very high and many describe the Church as divided rather than united, as one innovative pastor found.
"We're not doing a very good job, are we?" Craig Groeschel, senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv, told church attendants Sunday.
With churches competing for larger attendance numbers, fighting over worship style, and a growing number of denominations around the world, Groeschel believes the divisions among Christians is breaking the heart of God.
"I wonder if God ever looks at all of His churches, all the Christian churches all over the world, and asks, 'Why can't you guys come together? Why are you so divided when my Son Jesus prayed 'Father, make them one,''" said Groeschel, who leads a fast-growing multi-site church with campuses now in six states and on the Internet.
Early this month, the Life Church pastor launched a month-long series called "One Prayer," partnering with over 1,400 churches from across the globe in what participants are calling an unprecedented and historic event. The hundreds of churches and their over 800,000 attendants are simultaneously running the series on the premise "If God would answer 'one prayer' for the church at large, what would you pray?" After preaching the first Sunday of the month, pastors are showing sermons from other participating pastors via video, each preaching on what their one prayer is.
Groeschel's one prayer – "make us one."
"What if we as churches across the world became the answer to his prayer when Jesus prayed 'Father, make them one,'" he challenged attendants on Sunday.
The series was born more out of repentance than a passion for unity, Groeschel explained. It was his desire not to be competitive against other believers and to instead be united.
Unity begins with recognizing "one enemy" – Satan, and not the church down the street or in another denomination, the lead pastor said. Having one heart and one purpose will also help unite Christians.
"What would happen if we the Church across the world united and took all the resources that God has given us?" he asked. Within a week, he demonstrated, starvation could be eliminated, every person could have access to drinking water, poverty could be eradicated, and the world "could not only know the name of Jesus, but they could see him if we became one."
By Sunday, the world would worship like never before as they have come to know the glory, power and love of Jesus through his followers, Groeschel highlighted.
LifeChurch.tv is also showing sermons this month from Jentezen Franklin of Free Chapel, Perry Nobel of NewSpring Church, and Ed Young of Fellowship Church.
Young's one prayer for the church is to engage, particularly in the reality of heaven and hell.
"For a long time, the Church talked too much and too often about hell," Young said in his One Prayer sermon. Now, "the pendulum has swung too far to the other side" and churches are preaching pop psychology rather than the Gospel, he says.
"I think the Church has ... done disservice in today's world by not talking about hell enough," he said. When believers engage eternity and begin to see others as eternal beings, it changes everything they do.
"If there's a hell ... we better leverage everything to touch people for Jesus Christ," Young preached. "It should be hard to go to hell because of Church."
About 60 pastors are sharing their messages via video with churches around the world this month. One Prayer churches are encouraging fasting and praying during the four-week series and will further seek to make a lasting impact by collecting a special offering this weekend to help support the planting of 500 new churches in Cambodia, India, Sudan and China.
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Religion: Man trying to find God.
Christianity: God trying to find man.
To assume that only men, not God, cause division is to create the logical, but false and un-Scriptural, assumption that men can always achieve unity. Such efforts may produce an ecumenical and superficial sense of 'togetherness', but only at the expense of truth, integrity, and genuine pneumatological union. Christ's prayer in John 17 is clearly not for the former, but rather the latter form of unity. The fundamental reason behind the current conflict and division is that God's spiritual New Creation is being assembled, in part on Earth, before the Old Creation is fully dismantled.
scitsonga: I agree with your defintion, but consider this statemnet by Kile Jones It is apparent that religion can be seen as a theological, philosophical, anthropological, sociological, and psychological phenomenon of human kind. To limit religion to only one of these categories is to miss its multifaceted nature and lose out on the complete definition."
Therefore we can consider Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Wicca, and other beliefs to be religions. Also Agnosticism, Humanism, and Atheism can be defined as religions, because they contain a "belief about deity." Their belief is they do not know if deity exists, or they have no knowledge of God, or they believe that God does not exist.
If we interpret religion in ths manner we can see that war is not the fault of "religion". Rather we see that religion is only a scapegoat for man's lust for wealth and power. I believe history bears this out almost universally.
Your thoughts?
logic: Religion I think is a set of beliefs centered on specific supernatural and moral claims and that most religions claim their interpretations to be the correct interpretations- other religions got it wrong. The last part of that I think is where the problems of religion exist. I should perhaps clarify my earlier statement to say if people would keep their religions to themselves and not attemt to impose their religious views on others, there would have been less war and conflict in the past and today. Much of the probelms that exist in the Middle East today are related to religious conlict amoung jews, christians and muslims. Amoung these religions, they cant even agree amoung themselves about the "correct" interpretation. How many thousands of denominations of the christain faith exist due to differing views?
flagged myself for error
scitsonga: In one or two sentences if possible, thanks.
scitsonga: May we have your defintion of religion?
elimination of religion thru enlightenment would reduce wars on earth.
Mike:
You are right! Its not a question of if but when. It will happen and the sad part is the US with all it's unrighteous power will lead the way! The U.S. is the two horned beast of REV 13. undeniably! We in our "christian" fervor will make and image to the Beast that had the wound healed. The last conflict will come down to two groups: those who worship the creator and keep His commandments and those who worship the apostate religion of the Beast. Here are the patients (endurance) of the saints, here are those who keep the commandments of God! and the faith of Jesus!
if & when the church across the world united, it will be very bad. there will be only one interpretation of the bible, & if you disagree with that interpretation, will you be ostracized & 'ex-communicated'? is this the beginning of a one world church that killed thousands of people in the middle ages bec. one church or person cannot disagree with? the bush adminstration has started their own kind of church. if you disgree with bush's interpretation of his religious foreign policy, you are unpatriotic, leftist, liberal or judging him.
Quecat,
I agree with your comment on June 20 @ 3:56 pm. Churches should quit boasting about their so-called heritage and humble themselves before God. God lifts the humble but resists the proud.
I think the key point here is that if we all believe that Jesus is right...then the problem comes in when we are not "conformed to the image of His son" and "transformed by the renewing of your minds."
Anyone who does any woodworking knows you can't mark a board, cut it, use the board to mark the next one and so on. The cut's will be different. You have to use the same standard.
This is why (here I go again) I hold to what Jesus said to love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind; and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus gave a clear description of what it means to be in a right relationship with God and step by step instruction on how to have that relationship.
It's man wanting to choose what they believe that has been the real issue throughout history. The problem comes in when we measure our 'faith' by another instead of comparing it to what Jesus said. If we all compared ourselves to Jesus we would all have the same belief...of needing to be flat on our face before a holy God and use our two ears and one mouth in the proportion given!
mathetes, if you haven't already go to the same-sex marriage rush for the biggie challenge response. believer
mathetes, I can empathize with the load you're under but just remember this too shall pass, believer
Matt. 16:18---It was not Peter the Church was built on but rather verse 16-Peters response: Thout are Christ, Son of the Living God. Peter was blessed for his faith. Rock is the same as Christ in much of NT. 1 Cor. 10:4 is proof not to mention His Parables. He was speaking of HIMSELF.
No, I'm a recovering news addict. (and everyone in the circle said, "Hi, Mathetes.")
I cut my daily email subscriptions way back, to finish my dissertation, or I'd be in the dog house. CP is the only daily I get now, but I will take a look at it. I'm sure it would be a good source. Thanks.