Kyle Idleman, teaching minister at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY offered an article in their church paper. It was entitled "Dear Church". It was an excellent piece written to encourage and exhort the church. I'd like to share some of his thoughts here as well as my own.
I want to invite Oakwood to be the church that God wants it to be. To be the bride of Christ means to be married to the Son of God. The church is God's prized possession as each person and soul involved in it are desiring an even deeper walk with their Lord. God is pleased when we are the church. But many times I think that He's disappointed with our complacency. I want to invite Oakwood to be the church like we see in the book of Acts. I see our generation as the one restoring the radical calling of New Testament Christianity and being the church that most pleases God. So I invite every part of the Oakwood body to be a part of this.
This is an invitation to define success not by the size of the crowd in a building, but by the commitment of the followers when they leave the building.
This is an invitation to stop cheapening Jesus by dressing Him and selling Him cheap, but to raise the cost of following Jesus to nothing less than everything.
This is an invitation to preach the whole Gospel of God without concern for polls, popularity, or political pressure. It is an invitation to preach the Truth with grace and love.
This is an invitation to set free those who are bound by the rules of religion, the traditions of man and personal legalisms of preachers who decided the Bible would be better if they added to it.
This is an invitation to love. Not because it's someone you've made into your evangelism project, but because it's someone. They will know we are Christians not by our rule keeping, not by our political influence, or moral policing--but by our love.
This is an invitation to not focus on building your kingdom, but to be a part of building God's Kingdom. It's an invitation to be a part of a global revival that will usher in the second coming of Christ.
This is an invitation to redefine worship as a way of life. It's an invitation to leave behind our humanistic approach to our worship services. We do not gather to be entertained. We do not gather to celebrate ourselves, our families or our country. We gather to glorify God and to celebrate the difference His gift of Jesus has made in our lives.
This is an invitation not to send letters to church leaders about the temperature in the sanctuary, the volume of the music, the length of the service, or the crowded parking lot. Instead, send a letter asking to serve, committing to pray and celebrating the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of others. This is an invitation for the church to officially close its doors as a country club and open its doors as a refuge, a shelter, a sanctuary.
This is an invitation to fight a different kind of cultural war--to declare war on issues such as hunger, homelessness, addiction and loneliness.
This is an invitation to answer the prayer of Jesus in the night of His death: that the church would be one. This is an invitation to leave behind our man-made denominations and stand united on the Word of God and faith in Jesus Christ.
This is an invitation to holiness. To put behind the pick-and-choose approach to the lordship of Christ and regain our distinctiveness as those who live as Jesus lived and love as Jesus loved.
This is an invitation to just raise your hand and say a prayer. This is not an invitation to come to church once a week and mark it off your list. This is not an invitation to put a Jesus fish on your car. This is an invitation to surrender your life and your heart. It is an invitation to die to ourselves.
This really is an invitation of Jesus: to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow.
Let's be the church together.
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