“Each generation of the church in each setting has the responsibility of communicating the gospel in understandable terms, considering the language and thought-forms of that setting.” – Francis Schaeffer
The Lord led me into a life-changing discovery not too long ago. My wife and I moved on from a church we had been working at and attending for 15 years. Our job was done and we believed the Lord was calling us on to a new assignment. It was a difficult change in that we had to leave many dear people we have grown to love, but we felt it was right so that was a comfort to us.
NEW POWER
In the search for a new church home we visited several churches, one was a denomination that was very different than what we were use to. It was there we felt we were to stay for a season. What was very different we soon found very comforting and ignited a new power in our relationship with the Lord. I felt I was able once again to understand the holiness and reverence toward the Lord. I found God doing a work in me that I did not know I needed – but I needed it very much.
DIFFERENT PEOPLE / SAME GOD
What I came to understand is that God in His great love for us has allowed so many different churches. People have complained that we should not have denotations because we are all one in Christ. Yes we are all one body, but we are all very different. Some feel they worship God best in a free and exciting service, others like a more traditional service. It is a wonderful thing that the Lord has allowed us all to worship from our hearts in a way that we understand and relate to.
UNDERSTANDING
Scripture tells us to seek understanding. That comes by being with likeminded people worshiping and learning in a way that we can connect with. There are things that are Biblical tenants of the faith that we all must embrace, but that does not include music or worship style or ritual. I love the quote from Mark Twain when he said, “It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.”
DIFFERENT IS GOOD
Do not close yourself off to the Body of Christ just because they worship or do things different than you. Success-Minded People must understand that unity in the faith is not a case of us all being the same. Or as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “We may all come from different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” It is the fact that we are all sinners saved by the blood of Christ which makes us one. Be where God leads you and recognize that may be different for your brother or sister, but it is just as good.
© 2011 John Patrick Hickey
