If you were to read the pages of the New Testament, you might be tempted to read our contemporary and modern day church practices back into its pages. But, did you know that most of the things that compose that which we associate today with the church are completely foreign to the New Testament? So foreign are our concepts of church to the pages of the New Testament, if you were to transport the apostles to the present day, somebody would have to explain to them some of the most basic things that you and I take for granted today.
21 Things The New Testament Church Never Had:
- Church Buildings
- Denominational Organizations
- Statements of Faith
- The Pope (or any other hierarchical figures)
- Seminaries and Bible Colleges
- Senior Pastors
- Vision Statements
- Youth Pastors
- Worship Services
- Sunday School
- Praise and Worship Teams/Worship Leaders
- Pulpits
- Pews
- Ushers
- Staff
- Volunteers
- Orders of Service
- Liturgical Church Calendars (I.e. Christmas and Easter)
- Altar Calls
- Communion Cups and Wafers
- Offering Plates
Such begs the question. If Jesus and the apostles did not teach us about such stuff, should we continue to center our life as the church around these contemporary things? At some point, should we consider discarding some, if not all the items on this list? And if we keep them, on what grounds do we justify their continued presence in the life of the church today?
No comments:
Post a Comment