Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Hmmmm.....
From Pyromaniac
Nah, couldn't be, then church consultants wouldn't have anything to do.
The Metropolitan Tabernacle in London is a thriving evangelistic congregation. Anyone who thinks Calvinism is hostile to evangelistic zeal ought to come here and see firsthand what evangelistic Calvinism looks like.Is it possible, just possible, that the gospel well preached and purposefully lived out will produce a healthy and vibrant church regardless of the acouterments? Is it possible that if our church is not healthy and vibrant we sould examine the gospel we preach and not the way we preach it? Is it possible that the key to church growth is the people already in it?
In fact, this church goes against all the wisdom of modern church-growth experts. It's an inner-city church doing a fine job of reaching its own local community with the gospel. The neighborhood is about as diverse as you can imagine, comprising people from more than a half dozen cultures?African, Russian, Asian, Sri Lankan, Indian, Eastern European, English, and more. The congregation, including the diaconate, reflect that heterogeneity. Yet, as far as the style of worship is concerned, there's no accommodation to cultural diversity. The services are pretty much like they were in Spurgeon's day. Nothing is deliberately contemporary or entertainment-oriented. There are no choruses. There are no video screens. There are none of the accoutrements of "contemporary worship." Although all the church-growth experts continually insist such things are absolutely necessary, the conventional wisdom is belied by the reality of what is happening here. The centerpiece in every worship service is the preaching of the Word. It's straightforward and plain. And yet every service I have ever attended at the Tabernacle has been full to capacity.
Nah, couldn't be, then church consultants wouldn't have anything to do.
