Debunking Four Myths About the Church
Myth #4
August 1, 2021 • Dr. Peter Radford
This week, we close out our series with the following myth: Watching church online is good enough. We can debunk this myth using two key teachings of Scripture: 1. The physical gathering of the church is the consistent expectation of the New Testament for believers (Mat. 18:17-20; 1 Cor. 11:33; Heb. 10:25) 2. The “one another” commands of the New Testament are impossible to fulfill from a distance. (John 13:34; Romans 15:14; Colossians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 12:25; Galatians 5:13, 6:2)
Myth #3
August 1, 2021 • Dr. Peter Radford
Introduction: This week’s myth questions the importance of church membership, arguing that it is good enough to attend and never officially commit to a local assembly. To help us debunk this myth, we can draw from three Bible passages, which lead us to the following ideas: 1. Church Membership is about committing to growing in Christ together. (Mat. 18:15-20) 2. Church membership is about giving the church elders permission to watch over your spiritual growth. (Heb. 13:17) 3. Church membership is about participating in the mission God has for the church. (Acts 13:1-3) The Big Idea of the message from these texts was that Church Membership is an essential part of your spiritual growth as a follower of Jesus.
Myth #2
July 25, 2021 • Dr. Peter Radford
This week, we debunk a second common myth about the church: The key to discovering a good church is finding one that makes you comfortable. We challenge this idea from a couple of perspectives. • First, we look at a key purpose of the church, which to make us holy or Christ-like. We observe that this process is far from comfortable. • We also see Paul’s warning to Timothy that the time will come when supposed Christians will gather teacher around that will tell them what they want to hear (i.e., make them comfortable). Our study concludes with a closer examination of two of our core values: multigenerational ministry and multicultural focus. While both of these concepts lead us to be less comfortable in our church gatherings, we believe that these pursuits are good things that God intends for His people.
Myth #1
July 18, 2021 • Dr. Peter Radford
This week, we seek to debunk a common myth about the church, namely that because Christianity is about a personal relationship with God, individuals don’t need the church. The Biblical counter to this claim comes in two parts: 1. In the New Testament, there is no expression of the universal church outside the local church. (1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 8:1; Gal 1:13; Eph 3:10) 2. In the New Testament, salvation into the family of God and connection to the body of Christ are one and the same. (Eph 5:25-30; 1 Cor 12:12-27) - When God saves someone, he saves them into a community, into a church (Eph 5:25-30) - One can never become what God intends for them without the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:12-27)