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Where In The Bible Will I Find... A "Community Church"?
Gary Colley |
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We recently received notice of another man-made church to be established in our city. The notice says it will be called "Cumberland Community Church." Many of these "Community Churches" can be found scattered across the country, but they cannot be found in the Bible. Jesus said, "...upon this rock I will build my church." (Matt. 16:18). He came and died on the cross for His church (Acts 20:28), and He promised to come again and save His church eternally. (Eph. 5:23). But, search as we may, we never find Him mentioning a "Community Church." Christ's New Testament speaks of "the church" (Acts 2:47), "the church of God" (1 Cor. 1:2), and "the churches of Christ" (Rom. 16:16), but it never mentions such a thing as a "Community Church." The notice I received about this "Community Church" comes from a firm in California which calls itself "Outreach Marketing." It doesn't come from the Bible. The notice represents other churches in our city as "scolding," "judging," "pick pockets," and, in short, not being genuine people. The pictures on the advertising notice attempt to conjure up notions of "your idea of church." They are of a con-artist selling watches, a prisoner dragging a ball and chain, and a snobbish lady with books and a ruler in her hand. Then they say they are "out to change the way you think about church." Well, their approach is certainly a change from what is written in the Bible! We can find in the Bible where each worshipper is to sing with the spirit and the understanding and make melody in his heart as he worships God (Eph. 5:19, Col.3:16-17), but nowhere in the Bible do we find "upbeat music" as advertised by the "Community Church." In the Lord's church in the New Testament we find both a positive and negative message preached, but not "positive messages" exclusively as this church boasts. "Community Churches" are of the devil and are designed to cater to the sensual desires of men rather than providing the spiritual Bread of Life that comes from the word of God. |