Two Extremes: The Same Mistake

A church should stay away from the following:

1. Copying other ministries to the point that no idea is yours

In committing this mistake, you rely on everyone else for your ministry. You copy a book, sermons, evangelistic strategies, etc. without any thought. Your church becomes a copy cat and will lose all spiritual vitality. You steal ideas and even pawn them off as your own. This is a scary place to be - having no ideas and stealing water from another's well. The church in this model changes with the wind - whatever the latest conference says is God's truth for your ministry.

2. Ignoring other ministries that might have insight to be gained

On the flip side there are plenty of people who say all they need is "the Bible" and they do not need any help from anyone. Good ideas are not needed because everyone can read the Bible and see what it plainly says. Community is lost and the Bible gets placed on a pedestal it should not rest on - our interpretation outside of any ability to receive correction. These people of course do not want to copy anyone - the reason often given is that since what they are doing is not in the Bible it cannot be Biblical.

Both extreme models are full of pride and there are plenty of churches in the world that fit these categories. Let's stay close to the Bible. But let's not ignore the wisdom of godly men and women around the world that help us bring the gospel into the lives of believers and unbelievers in meaningful ways.

Pastor Darren