Jesus Army: Magazine - Rant and rave

“JUST BECAUSE I’m a Christian doesn’t mean I have to be part of a church! I do whatever I feel led to do. Accountable to nobody, I am free to do what MY God is calling ME to do with MY life. The last thing I want is for a church to hold me back.

“I already have everything I need to follow God – tapes from my favourite American preacher, CDs of the coolest Australian worship band and hundreds of books. I get Christian magazines and I go to all the latest conferences.

“So I don’t need to be part of a church. I just want MY relationship with MY God.”

WHAT UTTER NONSENSE! But many professing Christians today are like that – independent, self-centred spiritual consumers. They ask ‘What can I get out of God?’ rather than ‘What can I give?’

Having ‘opted out’ of church, they are moulded more by the flighty, non-committal ‘keep your options open’ spirit of the world rather than the sacrificial, self-giving ‘nailed to a cross’ love of Jesus.

But to opt out of church is to opt out of God’s will! The church is God’s consuming passion, his bride, the dwelling place of his Spirit. If you ‘feel led’ not to commit, you’re not being led by the Spirit of Jesus!

So burn your books, trash your tapes and cancel that conference! Give up your comfortable, crossless, consumer Christianity and get stuck in with God’s plan for your life: the church!

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