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MORE INFO ON THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF JESUS
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CLICK HERE to return the the previous chapter of this lecture by Gordon Stirling on the subject - "THE MESSAGE AND MISSION OF CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN THE NEW CENTURY" - as published in "The Australian Christian", 9 Sept. 1998. It is re-published her, with permission of the "A.C."
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"AN EVANGELICAL CHURCH :-
The New Testament world was a world where your religion was decided form you. Jews automatically belonged to God because they were Abraham's children. Greek and Roman children were offered to the gods of their families and had no choice in it. But the message of the Church was that each person made his or her own confession of faith in the living Christ as Lord and Saviour. That is the meaning of evangelicalism. This is why we continue to preach and practice baptism as the immersion of penitent believers. Not because the rule-book says so, but because it is a God-ordained way in which a believer affirms his or her faith in the living Lord who lived and died and rose again to give us life.
We do not go into the new century with the idea of making it easy for people to be counted as Christians and members of the body of Christ. A church of easy entry is a church of easy departure. Members of the first church lived and died for their confession of faith. It was public baptism that made them targets of persecution, but their church kept growing.
What do these people who have been made alive by the living Christ look like to the world? They are seen to be people who unconditionally accept everybody, while not necessarily condoning their views or lifestyles. They are seen to be compassionate, caring people, going beyond the call of duty. They are seen to have a quality lifestyle, without self-righteousness and judgementalism. They are seen to be devoted to the cause of justice, especially to the poor, the deprived and the disadvantaged. They are seen to be people whose security in God sets them free to love and to lift and to laugh.
A TRUE "KOINONIA" -
We have become used to the word "koinonia", the New Testament Greek word for "fellowship". Especially in its early weeks, the New Testament Church was a true fellowship. Everybody took responsibility for everyone else's needs. Towards the end of the first century. "koinonia" in the church was strengthened in the face of increasing persecution.
The practice of "koinonia" is probably the greatest gift that we can bring to the church and the world, especially locally, where each congregation is living right in the middle of human need. Loneliness in the crowd is a feature of modern life . In a world where everyone seems to want to talk, there are hurting people who long for someone to listen to them while they think aloud about what to do next. All of them, the frustrated, the burdened, the hopeless and the rapidly-growing underclass of the poor, need the feel of "koinonia". It goes deeper than mateship and is still there when the mates have gone home. It goes deeper than the fellowship of most church activities, in which we enjoy meeting other people and having a good time until next week. It means total, unconditional accepting of people and total availability to people in and out of the church. It means being available at any time, at any cost. It means staying beside them even when they let us down, again and again. It means caring for people as though they were Jesus himself.
There isn't space to consider other aspects of the life of the first church that are relevant to the 21st. century. We would discover that it was a compassionate church, an evangelistic church, a Spirit-filled church and a church united, but with great diversity. The scope is endless.
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CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE BY GORDON STIRLING
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