21st-Century Problems for the Church
By James McClenny
In the movie Star Trek: First Contact, Jean-Luc Picard, Captain of the starship Enterprise, said that people of the 24th century had evolved sensibilities and were no longer subject to the passions of past generations. He immediately proved his bold claim was false, and was rebuked by a 21st century woman. Plot twists aside, that scene raises some interesting questions for God’s people.
A full decade into the 21st century, do we actually think we are different from the generations that came before us? Have the 21st century people of God been so transformed into God pleasing sacrifices (Rom. 12:1-2) and into His image (2 Cor. 3:18) that we don’t have any church problems? The answer resounds – NO!
Romans 1 – 3 analyzes man’s condition and concludes with the simple statement, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:23). Even though we serve a good (Matt. 19:17) and perfect God (Matt. 5:48), and are charged to “be perfect,” we don’t measure up. We are not immune to sin: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). That won’t change in the 21st or 24th century.
Church problems arise today in three very broad categories: Focus, Form and Function. Focus is defined as the “central point of attraction, attention or activity.” The singular focus of the church is on things above (Col. 3:2), as we press toward the eternal goal (Phil. 3:14) with our eyes fixed on Jesus (Heb 12:2). This is the over-arching issue. We can have the correct form and function, and be out of focus (Is. 1:10-15), but if we mess up the form or function, it is due to an improper focus.
Form refers to the shape or external appearance of something. While there is a universal church that contains all the people of God (Gal. 3:26-28), in every place (Eph. 3:14-15) and time (Heb. 12:22-24), there is no form to collect and organize it on a universal scale. There is only one God-authorized form within which the church can act collectively– the local church. It is made up of saints (1 Cor. 1:2), and, if qualified men are available, elders and deacons (1 Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9). The church gets “out of shape” by changing its form to expand beyond the local level or add other local offices.
Finally, function has to do with action or activity proper to an institution. There is a very narrow (Matt. 7:13-14) function that is proper for the local church, and problems arise when people seek to expand it beyond the boundaries spelled out in Scripture.
Our problems are 21st-century problems, because we are 21st-century people. But they are also timeless, because nothing is new in this world (Ecc. 1:9-11). Over the next few weeks we will look at church focus, form and function in more detail and then dig into some of those timeless problems as they take shape for us 21st-century christians.