Being an Effective Church

As part of my sermon prep, I recently read an article on Bart Campolo.

Bart is the son of Tony Campolo, a pastor and author.  Yet, a few years ago, Bart, who followed in his father's footsteps, espoused his Christian beliefs.  He embraced a secular humanist worldview.  He now serves as the secular humanist chaplain at the University of Southern California.

In his role as chaplain, Bart does many of the pastoral care roles church pastors and staff do today. According to this Huffington Post article, he envisions a secular humanist community that embraces many of the same services and practices churches engage in today.  He wants to offer inspirational talks, uplifting music, pastoral visits and even potluck dinners.

It sounds a lot like church without Christ.

Now, I'm going to tell you, I'm not afraid of that.  I'm not afraid of the secular humanist movement, or any other movement, that seeks to resemble church while promoting a different Gospel.  I believe in the power of the Gospel.  Jesus isn't contained in a program.  The power of Jesus doesn't reside in pastoral care but in the presence of the Son of God himself.  He doesn't need me to vouch or prove him.

I'm not afraid of a secular humanist community or chaplain.  I am reminded that church can be done without Christ.

We see it everyday.  People get busy doing the work of church that they forget to include the power of Christ.  We see churches go through the motions while they slowly die.  Did they ever stop doing church?  Nope.  They kept plugging along, even if they were spiritual dry or withering on the vine.

In Revelation 2:18-29, Jesus accuses the church of Thyatira of resembling the other false religions around them.  They had listened to a false prophet named Jezebel who led the people astray.  They were embracing pagan practices and ideas.  In a sense, they looked just like the pagan worshipers around them.

Jesus calls us to look and act and sound and be different.  He expects that of a church and he expects that of individuals.  We have to have the power of Christ to be effective in our ministries.

Can we do church without Christ?  I believe Bart Campolo is proving we can.  Can we be effective without Christ?  Not by Jesus' definition of effectiveness.

Sure, we can offer pastoral care.  We can make visits, check on the sick, provide service opportunities in the community and help those who are suffering.  But that's not the goal of Christianity.  It's the by-product.  The goal of Christianity is share the Gospel of Jesus.  We are to be winning souls and saving them from the second death known as Hell.

By that definition, we are effective when we share the Gospel and see souls saved.  By that definition, we can not effectively do church apart from Christ.

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