The Shape of the Future Church

By Warren Litzman

 Introduction

It's the second Sunday of the month at 2:30 in the afternoon. We are gathered at the home of Ken and Mary Eli in Conroe, Texas. This is a gathering of believers which constitutes church for them at this place. Everyone is urged to get a cup of coffee and gather in the living room, for the meeting is about to begin. A word of prayer is offered, songs of worship are sung, there's a rich time of sharing even of intimate things between each other, and finally a time in the Word. The meeting closes with everyone joining hands and singing the little chorus, "I See Jesus in You," and the afternoon has consummated church worship for this group of believers. This is a church of Jesus Christ in action, a Christ-life Home Church.

The Christian church today is in an enormous transitional state. There are many astute Bible scholars who are ready to say that the church as we have known it, the church that had tried to be a mighty army as well as the church of the little wooden buildings and the big brick and stone edifices, is soon to come to an end. Those who are planning on business as usual in the life of the church are not in touch with reality. Even some who have broken with traditional church structures and church programs have failed to grasp that this hour demands that we radically rethink the entire concept of what is the church of Jesus Christ Obviously, there will be no radical change in the universal body of Christ, but the change that will and must take place will be on the local level where in many places religion has become idolatry, and supporting the local church program has become almost a slavery rather than liberty and freedom in Christ.

Four Factors Constituting Modern Churches

The modern church today has become exemplified by four that a church could not operate without any of these entities, it is a fact that not one of them is necessary for a local body of Christ to operate. Yet, every local body that does meet will in time have elements of these four factors. As the message of liberation and freedom in Christ takes hold in the modern church, changes will become necessary in the way people look at the issue of "going to church." Christ is constituted any time two or three believers gather together in His name. There is no more of Christ or godly presence with 3,000 people gathered together than there is with three, and it doesn't matter whether the 3,000 or the three meet in a garage, a barn, a tent, or a huge building. Christ is no greater in one place than in another, for the gathering together of believers in Christ is a spiritual entity just as their worship unto God in Spirit and in truth is spiritual, also. In our day, so many of the so-called worship centers have become places where a preacher, through the program and doctrines, is creating a monument by the buildings he erects.

It is the same secular and earthy spirit that gripped Peter, James, and John on the mount of transfiguration when they wanted to build temples to Elijah, Moses, and Jesus. Many today see the church as a building, and for them going to the building is going to the church. Such, of course, is not the spiritual idea wrought by Scripture or by hungry hearts. Hungry hearts seek only to constitute the body of Christ by the gathering together of saints of like spirit and understanding.

To move out of the current dilemma religion is now in will take daring thinking and prayerful watching and waiting to bring about hope for those who dare to walk in the Spirit and who are hungry to know God.

Daring Is Needed

Some of the ideas I present in this paper are daring but hopefully will be stimulating and refreshing. I believe there is a good percentage of spiritual believers who sense that the church needs a radical change. (I do not want it to be felt that I must be agreed with on every point or that anyone must accept everything I say.)

Primarily, the church today has become dominated by an over-clericalized hierarchy of ministry which does everything. In the big super-churches it is not unusual for there to be as many as fifty or a hundred or even more members of the clergy (preachers) in charge. It is a dream among many today to become ministry, and the fulfilling of that dream has produced a church that stays out of touch with hungry hearts who want to grow in the things of the Lord.

Second, the church today has become authoritarian. This is a trap set by Satan where those who have reached great numbers of people think themselves to be more than God intended, and they set themselves up as an authority, highly doctrinaire and even ruthless in their dealings with the sheep. Authoritarian ministries see sheep only as a means to an end in carrying out their own personal ministries. It is sad that so many believers today do not sense and feel this. Sadder still is the fact that God Himself must deal with such ministries and has done so in the past few years to the degree of bringing them to a devastating end.

Third, the church today is a statistically structured church. Everything that is done fits some plan or some group of numbers, and can be qualified only if statistically sound. Buildings and numbers of people have become the criterion for success. Today, spiritual success is how big you are, how many you've reached, how much money you take in, and how prosperous you are personally.

Spirituality has come to be measured by secular success. The message today has become a "body" message rather than a "spirit" message. The born-again, instead of becoming offspring of God, are promoted into becoming bigger and greater earthlings through health and prosperity. But all of this may not be the ultimate reason why great numbers of people will seek another kind of church in which to worship God.

The True Gospel Is Lost and "Church" Is No Longer Pure

The ultimate reason that the church will have a radical change is that the Christ who died as us and now lives in us is lost. Jesus of Nazareth had a great passion for life. He believed in enjoying things on this earth as well as constantly pointing the way to the Fathers's house. Religion today has become an end within itself, and this passion to live the life of Another is generally lost. Those who walk in the spirit and are hungry to know God will no longer suffer in programs that deny them the fullness of Christ. To be frank, spiritual fun has been taken out of the church today. Do-er religion has become the commitment of modern believers. Constantly doing, giving money, doing, giving money and doing has become the means by which people serve God. This also is their means of receiving things from God which, of course, is a denial of the family relationship every believer has by being birthed by God the Father. But if we would share in Christ's passion for life, we cannot expect to be insulated from suffering, pain, and conflict. We cannot isolate ourselves from sharing in the lives of all who are oppressed. Many people in the church today are led to believe that giving money and building a new building and carrying out the preacher's program is entering into this intimate part of the Christ-life, but of course that is not so. The church today would want to spare us from the kind of hurt that is akin to the Christ in us, and any time any part of religion promises to spare us death, it is in fact taking away our very life. I have put together at least seven points which I believe will constitute the shape of the future church.

Christ-life Fellowship
PO Box 170307   Dallas, TX   75217-0307   USA

 litzman@christ-life.org     214-391-0488 

Webservant