The Unknown Parishioner to the Unknown Church

Introduction: This letter was written to a particular fellowship, but because of the wording and tone it seemed to apply to modern-day church mentality in America.

I, the unknown parishioner, wanted to take the time to thank you for your fellowship; I hope we can continue to be fellow workers in Christ. Also, I hope that my presence in the unknown church was not offensive or abrasive, but that I showed the grace of Christ. If I offended anyone by my preaching please accept my sincere apologies, because I too must stand before God and give account.

The unknown church is like many churches in some ways; and yet in other ways very unlike any church I have ever attended before. The teaching (or fellowship or worship) is based squarely on Christ and the Scriptures.

I was grateful to hear one of your elders preach the gospel over the pulpit, not worrying about the parishioners getting offended by the gospel, especially how he encouraged the congregation to get involved in ministries and to preach the gospel themselves. It encouraged me greatly to hear the him emphasize the atoning work of Christ so vehemently in his messages, and at times without concern of offending the flesh. I pray all of your elders will continue to preach the gospel and not be distracted from it by things of lesser importance in the unknown church.

I am especially aware of your administrative gifts; they seem to be wholly functional. When I asked about the other gifts, like evangelism, those who appeared to be pillars shared with me the workings of the unknown church and some of it's ministries. They informed me that 75% of the body was already involved in ministry of some kind, that to try to get them involved in evangelism would be difficult. This was apparent: Most of the members of the unknown church were doing other ministries and they did not feel the desire to preach the gospel. They had, as some of them said, ‘‘been there and done that'.

This made me think about finding a church with only, say... 25% ministry or less;

one that is less established than the unknown church, so my gifts would have a place to work. But I've found that most say the same as the unknown church, that they, too, have achieved the 75% ministry level.

For the last three months I have not attended the unknown church, mostly because I felt that the unknown church is puffed up, having an "I've-been-there-and-done-that" attitude in regards to preaching the gospel, especially in public places. And, frankly I have been quite discouraged by this smug behavior because it is so far removed from the Scriptures.

Meanwhile, I have been gathering together with a few, good, brethren in some other place, unknown even to the unknown church. I am glad the body of Christ is not limited to one location and that The Holy Church can do the will of the Father regardless of location. However, I must ask myself the question: Should I stop attending the unknown church just because you don’t know how to gather in the Name of the Lord correctly? Will I stumble some of the brethren who think that ""going to church"" is the only way to have fellowship? Anyhow, I know that other churches have the same problems as the unknown church.

God forbid I should stop praying for the unknown church and its leaders, or that I should stop trying to minister to the needs of the unknown church; for I fear this God.

Some time ago, my wife received a phone call from one of the girls in your office, who was organizing the unknown church's summer carnival. Apparently, the purpose of the carnival was to "Reach out to the community with the love of Christ", and the girl asked my wife (she is my fellow-worker in the gospel) if we'd like to buy a booth space, since we were unknown parishioners. My wife suggested instead that we, as unknown parishioners and anyone else from the body who wished to, could pass out tracts and witness to the unknown lost at the carnival. The girl proceeded to tell my wife that "this is not a preach the gospel thing", and that "passing out tracts is in no way on the agenda". My wife, puzzled by this remark, asked if that wasn't our command as Christians: that we go out into all the world, including our community, with the gospel of Christ; and wasn't that how we were supposed to "reach out" to the lost. The girl laughed at that, and said, "Well, you are the unknown evangelism team you know." My wife thanked the girl and hung up.

Although my wife was very disturbed and a little disheartened by the exchange with the girl in your office, I praised my wife for the leading of the Spirit and 100% stand behind her in her actions with dealing with that girl. As the Scripture says, "Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel." (1 Cor. 9:16).

Many times I approached you about follow-up counseling for the newly saved after services. I have yet to hear from you, to let me know you are still interested in this. Also, I have heard no public support from you over the pulpit for preaching the gospel on the streets or in the community. I appreciate that you put an announcement in the unknown bulletin, but it seemed weak and insignificant when compared to the fervor shown in the unknown Carnival announcements. Which is more important: fairs and carnivals that cater to the politically correct lost, or going forth as commanded, preaching the gospel openly? Why is there so much fear towards the action and issue of preaching the gospel? Was Jesus wrong or mistaken when he said "Go, and preach the good news", or "Therefore go and make disciples of every nation." (Matt. 28)

I only wish that if someone has a problem with preaching the gospel on the street or otherwise, that they would come and state their case through the Scriptures; instead, the idea is scorned at the unknown church, and treated as if it is ineffective and not politically advantageous. Again I say, the attitude is "I’ve been there, done that".

How can we say, "We love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength", (as Matt. 22:37 says to) and also say that we have been redeemed by His blood and cleansed by His grace, empowered by His spirit and yet be afraid, to speak out to a lost and dying world of the coming judgment? I do not understand this thinking.

Did not Paul, the greatest apostle, do this very thing which is so hated? Is this then something which is too old-fashioned for us modern Christians? Is the Bible too old-fashioned then? If going to the unknown church means I have to sit on my hands like I have for the last year, then I can sit on them just as effectively at home.

I respect your position, for you guys have been Christians for longer than I have been alive, and my scriptures say not to rebuke an elder harshly (1 Tim. 5:1). My heart is not one of a rebuke, but of admonishment. I want to serve God with my whole heart, and He has led me in the paths of righteousness the same as you. But I ask you to remember the days when you first preached the gospel with fervency, cutting your proverbial teeth on the streets, witnessing to the down-trodden, to the poor in Spirit, to the fatherless, the widows and those who would not and could not feel comfortable in the unknown church.

Do you remember when you could stand, flat-footed , on the street and preach the Gospel of repentance to someone, without all the pews, music and unknown support groups? You saw in their face the conviction of the Holy Spirit, reminding them of their sin; driving them towards the grace of Christ, through repentance. You could look in their eyes and see the truth, from the simple Scriptures, working on their heart.

I think of when I was young and rebellious and how I felt: angry at the life I'd been handed, for the neighborhood I had to grow up in, for the father who wasn't there through my childhood. When I got saved, the Lord began to take away the anger, mostly through the process of going out and witnessing on the streets. The Lord began to also convicted me to read Scriptures and put them into my heart, thus comforting me.

Serving others through preaching the gospel was a way of glorifying God while suppressing my flesh. When I quite young, the Lord sent me down to a ministry in the unknown city. The first year, half the things the man in charge did, I hated. I could not understand why he preached on a street corner and preached while people came up to him, cursed him, spit on him and blasphemed the Name of God. He would say when I asked him how he could take the holy things of God and give them to worthless people: ""It’s for the sake of preaching the Gospel." In my own mind, I could not reason this out. Why put up with this day after day, month after month, with little or no fruit for all our labors?

I began to realize that these were the very same things that were happening to Jesus at the end of his earthly life. Where were the crowds who followed him and cried ""Hosanna!"" ? Was the cross a mistake? Was the work of the cross, the shed blood of Jesus Christ, of no effect because scornful people made it so? When they plucked out His beard, when they beat him, when they spit on him, when they pushed the thorns on his head to mock him, when they pierced him, did this show an apparent lack of interest in His message?

How is it we say, "We love you Jesus", but when asked to pray for a little while or help in the gospel, "I’ve been there, done that." If Jesus said, "not my will but Thine be done.." can we smugly reply to the question: "Won’t you help a little" with: "That’s not my ministry?""He also said, "If they hate me, they will hate you too." And still he sent them out, sheep amongst wolves. What about the scripture that says those who live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, or take up the cross and follow Him?

It dawned on me that the very thing David was rebuked for, numbering the people or in this case the converts (also called bean-counting) is what the unknown church is guilty of today. The unknown church loves to show results of how many were saved or reached, but these so called converts are hardly ever seen, let alone discipled.

If we say we love the lost, then why do we mislead them with phrases like "you have a God-shaped hole in your heart", "God loves you so just the way you are", "Let your light shine but don't preach", "Don’t judge", "We're having a carnival tonight, so bring an unsaved friend." One friend tells me his church has bingo games, another line dancing for Jesus, another charismatic karate.

And yet in all this muddled sentimental babble the modern church loves to push weakened morals on the lost, to somehow convince them that they are wrong, but we can’t quite put a finger on their sin. The modern day church does not lift a finger to help them come to the realization that they are wicked and need to repent and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and master, in order to be saved from the wrath of a righteous God.

I also began to read about how Paul, for the sake of the gospel, would go to any extent to preach, knowing his life was at stake. He said, "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Phil. 1:21) Paul's custom was to go first to the synagogue in each town he entered, knowing the Jewish leaders there had a hatred of Christ; that they, his own people, would turn on him, which they did many times; one time stoning him three times in one day, and leaving him for dead. He received the dreaded 39 lashes from the Jews three times. This is not to mention the continuous threats on his life made by his own people wherever he went.

God forbid that I would stop praying for you, that we may grow in Christ together and not be ashamed of the Gospel. A few scriptures have been laid on my heart in regards to the unknown church; may they encourage you in your walk and service to Christ:

"Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you have fallen short of it. For we have also had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard it did not combine it with Faith. Now, we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said ‘‘so I declared an oath in my anger, that they shall never enter my rest.' And yet, His work has been finished since the creation of the world." Hebrews 4:1-3.

"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel - not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of it's power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to them who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate'." 1 Corinthians 1: 17-19

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew and then the Gentile. For, in the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘the righteous shall live by faith'." Romans 1: 16+17

Steven

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