I love this! As a natural pedant (a curse) I have always recoiled at the title "Community Church". What does it mean?
Does it mean that the church is a community? If so then we have a pleonasm because that's what "church" is supposed to mean if we take the new testament meaning of ekklesia as relevant.
Does it mean that the church serves the community in which it is physically present? If so, while potentially true, this is not its primary function and probably not be the primary label.
Can they possibly mean "Community Church" in the sense the the church is somehow accountable to the community? I have often seen fliers and such from local churches which ask the question: "What are you looking for in a church?" As if it somehow mattered what nonbelievers felt about what a church should or should not be doing.
"Forsake not the gathering of yourselves together as the manner of some is and so much the more as you see the day approaching."
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
This comic points to a very true reality in the institutionalized form of church that is a systemic failure of what Christ designed in His church. But, most saints will make no thought to examine this system to find the faults and seek to resolve them so as to increase their obedience to Christ's call. Believers are quick to rationalize that this is normal for the church and to try to reform it would cause more problems than what currently exist. If this were the truth then the reformers of the past were wrong. In the power of God's grace, our protestant forefathers moved forward. In the power of God's grace, believes today must move forward in obedience and throw off systemic church behaviors that nullify God's commands. The reality of this comic should be a thing of the past, not a continuing reality.
This comic visualizes two key systemic errors:
1. Special separate buildings for crowd oriented church life said to be essential.
2. Hired professional experts to dominate expression of truth, vision, decision making, etc., said to be essential.
In God's grace, He has been able to build His kingdom in many ways "in spite of" these two things. This grace is designed to help us move away from the "in spite of" routine. It is long overdue for believers to recognize the sin that is embedded in what they consider normal and good.
I think the whole community church thing is stupid and agree with basically everything you guys have said. I do, however, want to share what my father-in-law always says about these community churches and that is that a lot of times they are Baptist churches who are afraid that if they put 'Baptist' on the marquee then people won't come (*cough* John MacArthur *cough*)
Comments
One guy says to the other two:
"Define communuity? We just chose that word because our marketing research consultant told us it was 'in'."
Posted By: Darren King | June 2, 2008 10:37 AM
I love this! As a natural pedant (a curse) I have always recoiled at the title "Community Church". What does it mean?
Does it mean that the church is a community? If so then we have a pleonasm because that's what "church" is supposed to mean if we take the new testament meaning of ekklesia as relevant.
Does it mean that the church serves the community in which it is physically present? If so, while potentially true, this is not its primary function and probably not be the primary label.
Can they possibly mean "Community Church" in the sense the the church is somehow accountable to the community? I have often seen fliers and such from local churches which ask the question: "What are you looking for in a church?" As if it somehow mattered what nonbelievers felt about what a church should or should not be doing.
"Forsake not the gathering of yourselves together as the manner of some is and so much the more as you see the day approaching."
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
Posted By: Bob | June 2, 2008 3:51 PM
This comic points to a very true reality in the institutionalized form of church that is a systemic failure of what Christ designed in His church. But, most saints will make no thought to examine this system to find the faults and seek to resolve them so as to increase their obedience to Christ's call. Believers are quick to rationalize that this is normal for the church and to try to reform it would cause more problems than what currently exist. If this were the truth then the reformers of the past were wrong. In the power of God's grace, our protestant forefathers moved forward. In the power of God's grace, believes today must move forward in obedience and throw off systemic church behaviors that nullify God's commands. The reality of this comic should be a thing of the past, not a continuing reality.
This comic visualizes two key systemic errors:
1. Special separate buildings for crowd oriented church life said to be essential.
2. Hired professional experts to dominate expression of truth, vision, decision making, etc., said to be essential.
In God's grace, He has been able to build His kingdom in many ways "in spite of" these two things. This grace is designed to help us move away from the "in spite of" routine. It is long overdue for believers to recognize the sin that is embedded in what they consider normal and good.
Posted By: Tim | June 2, 2008 7:43 PM
I love that all three fellas are dressed identically. I've just never understood the backwards collar. Does is mean something?
Posted By: Melody | June 3, 2008 8:13 AM
I think the whole community church thing is stupid and agree with basically everything you guys have said. I do, however, want to share what my father-in-law always says about these community churches and that is that a lot of times they are Baptist churches who are afraid that if they put 'Baptist' on the marquee then people won't come (*cough* John MacArthur *cough*)
Posted By: Todd Burus | June 3, 2008 8:36 AM
It is very easy to pick at things.
How many of us go out of our way to reach out?
How many of our neighbors do we know?
How many people do we talk to at the grocery store?
How much time do we spend outside our home in the yard or front of the house?
We are all sinners and we all fail the Community test - including the cartoonist.
Posted By: E. I. | June 3, 2008 7:34 PM
Todd Burus,
THAT was funny.
So true about MacArthur's church.
Posted By: nathan | June 6, 2008 1:58 PM