Matthew 16. V18

I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.  These are the words of Jesus as He makes His way to the Cross. 

’,When Jesus used the word ‘Church’, He was referring to an assembly of believers meeting together in worship.  The Church has a special place in the plan of God, and we have to know how we are to live and function within that plan.

The Church which Jesus promised to build, is the company of all faithful people.  This first Church set a form of worship that fully embraced the Christian faith,  The people met regularly, praised God in words of hymns ,and  prayers.

It does not belong to any nation or place. It is one composed of those who have joined to Christ in faith.  It is a Church with one body, one heart and mind, holding the same beliefs and believe the same doctrine for salvation. It is a Church with one head, Jesus Christ

Over the years. Men formed groups of Christians and formed several denominations, disputing over Catholic, Episcopalian, Methodist, Baptists, Presbyterian and Independent Churches, as if any one Denomination is composed of better Christians.  It does matter where we have worshipped, if we are not found to be members of the true Church of God’s chosen people.   It is however, still true, that when we have the annual week of Christian unity, in which the Churches unite to worship as one, it all falls apart as the Roman Catholic Church, will not administer Communion to non-Catholic people. the Apostle Peter preached the first sermon to Jews and Gentiles, after which 3,000 people asked Peter what they should do.  He told them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy spirit.  They did so and devoted themselves to the teaching of the Apostles, which is the foundation of the New Testament.

Acts 2, we find the early Church responded without coercion, to meet to listen to the preaching of the gospel as given by the Apostles, and we see they grew daily as they acted upon that teaching.  God blessed that Church and added to their number.

When Jesus stated the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church, he means the power of evil shall not destroy the people of Christ.  In the two thousand years since His birth, time and days have been calculated on that day; nations have fought against each other, Monarchs and Emperors have come and gone, but Jesus is the same Savior who lived only to die on a Cross, in order to forgive the sins of all who accept that His death was for their forgiveness, Those who accept that Jesus died and was raised from death, will receive salvation. Those who do not make this confession, will, despite false teaching, will not live in heaven.  

The mystical body of Christ shall never perish, and every member will be brought to glory. No member of the Church will be cast away. Having delegated first to Peter and the Apostles, to continue the work He had begun, Jesus now passes the responsibility down to us in our age to continue to preach the gospel, and every Christian has the duty to play their part in the spread of the gospel.

From the first days the Church has been persecuted, but the Church to-day is at the peak of persecution as modern technology has been a great access for the persecutors to spread their evil. Jesus stated his intention to build his Church,  and we can rely on the fact that he does not retreat om his word.

 It is generally considered, that people are motivated to attend services by the preaching of the gospel, but a very successful means of people attending, is due to individual persuasion by Church members to family and friends. A sound way of carrying this out. is by inviting a friend to accompany you to a service when you can rely on the Minister of the Church to proclaim the gospel.

Every Christian who values and loves their Church, must at times feel depressed at the lack of people attending   I accept that numbers are not the be all and end all of Church worship, or a verdict on any particular Church, but there must always be a need for every Church, to consider whether the worship offered is as worthy as it ought to be.  In many cases I do not think it is.

When we pass through Easter and Christmas, in those times especially at Christmas, services of carols, a large number of Churches will have seen much bigger congregations than normally.  But the same thing happens at Easter and  Remembrance day,  also reveal that a large number of people are still attached to the Christian faith. We should consider why people come so readily for such services , yet never come at weekly services: there must be a reason. We cannot put it down to deaths or illness, there must be an obvious alternative.

If, when you decide to go out for a visit to a restaurant, you may see one claiming to provide good food well prepared, so will enter.  If you find the food was poorly cooked and little better than junk food, you will not go to that place again. Is there not a similar analogy with Church services.

Cast your mind back to 1954 when Billy Graham came to hold meetings at the large Harrington Arena.  Despite the sneers in the press, and attempts by the Church to prevent him coming, he came expecting to stay for three weeks. Such was the public response he had to stay from the 1st March to 29 May as crowds nightly attended in their thousands, and the Crusades were taken to cities beyond London.

People who would never have thought of attending Church, were converted into sincere faith by the tuneful hymns and songs, with well prepared and organised services, the preaching by the most successful evangelist in Christian history, the people were captivated. The visit led to a considerable increase in Church attendances, but the people did not stay.  They faced Morning Matins, with ancient canticles and anthems, and sermons which did not inspire, and there was no follow up with the people from the Crusades to which they had attended.   However, the most important part is that between the coming and leaving.  Services, should be bright with tuneful hymns, perhaps altering tunes to hymns that are felt necessary, if the set one is of the mournful type.  I was at a service where for ten minutes a choral rendition of Purcell’s ‘Rejoice in the Lord’ was sung, followed later by Stanford’s ‘Te deum’, which is fine for the right place, but an ordinary parish Communion is not my idea of the right place. 

I don’t think it is generally recognised how important music is in a service. Music stirs the mind and moves the heart.  In every Crusade, from Sankey and Moody, the Welsh revival, and most notably the great Billy Graham Crusades, the singing of hymns and spiritual songs has been a dominant feature to complement the inspirational preaching.

If the music is tuneful and well played people like to sing.

The Evangelical Churches mostly pursue this format, which needs to be introduced into more Churches, and dispense with the philosophy that seems to pervade that as long we put something on it will suffice.

The sermon has been relegated in importance, where once it was a central feature.  Sermons are there for a purpose, namely to tell the good news about Jesus Christ.  How can people be taught to believe the good news of the gospel if the Church fails to tell?  This is our business first and foremost.  The pulpit is there for the declaration of the gospel, and any Church which fails to respond cannot justify its reason for being there

.  Ministers are to be messengers from God, bringing God message to congregations. Sermons often lack teaching however, with preachers watering down the message to provide spiritual potions, which will make people feel happy and guiltless.  One Vicar tells me regularly, sermons need to be nice and friendly so people won’t be upset.  This always amuses me, for Billy Graham use to preach to audiences of up to 80 thousands and beyond regularly, and tell them they were all a lot of sinners who would go to hell if they didn’t repent, and people flocked to hear him. 

In the Church of England we have softened our messages, had all sorts of changes, all sorts of gimmicks, and we are still losing members..   At one time every village and neighbourhood, had its own parish Church (in addition to Catholic and Free Churches) and congregations were strong enough to maintain them.  This is no longer the case, yet we are still trying to keep that system going.  To do so we have Vicars fleeing from one Church to another, offering a token service which does no one any good, or a local preacher  who however well- intentioned, often has not been properly trained and rides his/her own hobby horse, not the Bible.

It would be far more sensible and realistic to prune the number of Churches.  We have seen evangelical Churches drawing people from a wide area and offering inspiring worship, and similarly High Churches offering beautifully conducted and meaningful worship.  People find no difficulty travelling to supermarkets which are not on their doorstep, and with some innovative transport offers, the Church could be in a like position.            The Bible states attending Church is not optional.  Some people may not be able to attend  for reasons of health or age, but every Sunday services are published on television, especially those from Churches in the United States of America who transmit to the United Kingdom, but also, elsewhere.

 The Bible assumes people who are believers, are connected to a local Church, where they live out their faith. Individual or independent Christianity, cannot be found anywhere in the Bible. Whilst Jesus is present bodily in heaven with believers, He is also present on earth by His Spirit so that when people are gathered  Jesus is amongst us just as  when He was present with His Apostles. 

A problem has arisen of late; the once great Methodist Church provided a solid evangelical service in the image of its founders, yet now it has surrendered to the activist culture, and approved same sex ‘marriages’, as other denominations have.

I cannot tell you what the Church of England believes now, it is a mixture of ideas dependent on where you live.  Any true Bible based Christian, must surely act in accordance with their conscience; in the words of Martin Luther, the great protestant revivalist, .’ If, then, I am not convinced by proof from Holy Scripture, or by cogent reasons, if I am not satisfied by the very text I have cited, and if my judgment is not in this way brought into subjection to God’s word, I neither can nor will retract anything; for it cannot be either safe or honest for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise; God help me! Amen’.

The Bible uses several terms to describe the Church, the most powerful being a family, consisting of people of different backgrounds, experiences, class, ages and gender.  This family extends right across the world, so that wherever you go you can have fellowship with other believers. 

Of course, the Church does not exactly encourage people, when it is seen to be unable to resolve theological and procedural problems quickly and quietly.  For a long period the Labour party was unable to attain office, because the public saw them squabbling and unable to determine what they stood for.  Then the Conservative party followed the same path, and they remained unpopular with the public.  So indicating clearly, that people have no respect for anybody, which cannot state positively what it believes in and stands for. 

It has to be faced there are men with a personal agenda, who seem determined to undermine the Church. How much better it would be

if we followed the example of  the Anglican Church of North America and formed a new Anglican Church of Great Britain, based on the same foundations as of our American friends.

In the meantime, each Church should strive to be true to its calling with vows honored, and work independently of the national scene.  I firmly believe that if a Church is a welcoming one, offers a well-constructed service, with tuneful hymns and an inspiring message, it will surely attract members.       May more individual Churches turn back to firm Bible teaching, and put forward nothing which is contrary to the teaching and commands of our Lord.

Martin Luther stated, ‘the truest  treasure of the church is the most holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God.                                           

 

Give thanks to God for His glorious Gospel            ‘