In and around my hometown, there were a number of ethnic social clubs. There was an Italian-American club, a Polish-American club and a German-American club. I’d see the signs for them as we drove by a hall or storefront.
The clubs met regularly for fellowship, to sing their songs, share their special foods and to pass traditions on to the next generation.
Over the years some churches have become “Christian-American” clubs. Like the ethnic clubs, they meet for fellowship, to sing their songs, share their special foods and pass traditions on to the next generation. Or, as the Methodist church consultant Lyle Schaller put it, “Every church, no matter the denomination or the reason it was started, ends up with the same mission statement after about twenty years: ‘To take care of our members, their children and the real estate.’”
That sounds like a club to me.
“Now, just a minute!” I can hear someone say. “What’s wrong with churches having fellowship, singing, food and traditions?”
Well, nothing. All of those things are good and should be happening in a life-giving church. But that’s not the main reason the church of Jesus Christ is on earth.
Based on the Bible’s clear teaching, the church is not called to be a Christian Family Community Center first and foremost. It’s not here to just preserve and spread Christian culture. Instead it’s Gospel-formed to proclaim and model the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world – full of grace and truth.
That Good News is the message there’s salvation from sin through faith in the finished work of Jesus, the Messiah, on the cross. He took the death penalty we deserve for our sin. And that’s why the Bible says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
Listen to the Bible—it’s GREAT for your soul!
