Loading ...Four Emotional Reactions to Church-Church is Purposeful
If the person is able to navigate the difficult transition of “the church is problematic” to “church is purposeful,” the individual will have realized that “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). In this level of maturity the new Christians has come to grips with the fact that the church is not perfect. There are problems and people that must be dealt with in the congregation because being a Christians does not make someone without faults. The mature new Christian switches from disappointment in the problems in church to empowerment within the church. Instead of taking the attitude of defeat or blame, the new Christian resolves himself to improve first as well as help make the congregation a better place. At this point, the new Christian sees the wisdom behind the formation of the church. The community of Christ was established to help make Christians into the “workmanship of God.” Instead of becoming upset with poor treatment or unfriendliness, the new mature Christian resolves to be friendly with newcomers. Instead of becoming upset with mean-spirited people in the congregation, the new Christian sees this as an opportunity to show the love of Christ. The new Christian grows to the level of seeing outside of his selfish needs for the congregation to meet to a Christ-like desire to improve and serve the church. He realizes that the church is a training ground for sanctification. If the church was completely free from unfriendliness, gossip, mean-spiritedness, and backbiting then there would be little opportunities for a Christian to develop the attributes of Christ. The new Christian progresses at this level of maturity from feeling like the victim of bad church behavior to feeling like a servant in the church for the Lord Jesus Christ.
For those who have never come to a church from a non-Christian background, these observations may seem shocking, but often these are the emotional reactions of someone who has his first introduction to the life of the church. As Christians who have reached the level of maturity where the church is a place to serve and not to be served, it is imperative that seasoned Christians help newcomers properly deals with these transitions in growth.
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- The Four Emotional Reactions to Church–Church is Perfect
- Four Emotional Reactions to Church-Church is Problematic
- The Four Emotional Reactions to Church–Church is Pointless
- Purposeful Mentoring
- Emotional Cut Off and Churches
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Do you all feel that this is a true picture of the progress that new Christians go through?
I remind my congregation that we all are but ‘jars of clay’ (2 Cor 4.7). That fact should keep us humble enough to acknowledge that we are not perfect but also realize that God has and will continue to accomplish his purposes through imperfect people (clay jars) which should keep us from becoming pessemistic or complacent about who we are and where we are at.
I have also said before that if we think a local church has problems and so we leave for another local church, then that new local church just gained one more problem. I understand that there are times when it is best to find a new local church to serve with but I like your idea about empowerment. Mature Christians find a way to make their local church better, begining with themselves.
Grace and peace,
Rex
Very good thoughts! I remember hearing Rick Warren say something like, “Every small group has an EGR person in it. An EGR person is an Extra Grace Required person, the member who is a little harder to get along with or to please. If you look around your church or small group and cannot figure out who the EGR person is, it’s probably you.” I have alway loved that quote. We need to help people mature sometimes, and we need help maturing sometimes. One thing is certain: We need each other.
That is funny Jim, if you look around and cannot figure out who the EGR person is, its probably you.” I am really glad I thought of someone.
Rex, that is a good thing to do for a congregation, we all need a reminder of who we really are.