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Settlers or Pioneers?
It is impossible to change the past. However, just as the current Church of God Reformation Movement is largely the product of the die cast by our predecessors, this generation will form the castings to mold the Movement for tomorrow.
The difficulty with pioneers is that all too often they become settlers. We are also tempted to look back in our history for a “golden peak” and endeavor to revert back to a past experience or at least try to duplicate it. Efforts to return to a past decade are as futile as energy expended by an adult struggling to become an infant. Continued change, growth, and development is the evidence that we are a movement—not a denomination. Even if it were possible to reproduce the church of the first century, it would obviously be immature and inadequate to serve today’s world. To strive for the New Testament pattern in doctrine, evangelism, and fellowship is essential; but a world-wide reproduction of the congregation at Corinth, for instance, would be a catastrophe.
There are disturbing voices in the religious world today making appalling predictions. Some say that the church is totally irrelevant and suggest a churchless Christianity. Others declare that the institutional church is as archaic as a museum collection of fossils and predict its demise. Critics who would write the obituary of the church speak of the late twentieth century as the “post-Christian age,” asserting that biblical concepts are neither intellectually acceptable nor culturally valid.
A desire to insure even the survival of Christianity has initiated various plans for Christian unity. It has even been proposed that Christianity become a triune entity with three branches, Catholic, Protestant, and Charismatic. The world has never been more in need of the true message concerning the Church.
The immediate future can become the most exciting period in the history of Christianity. God is searching for a body of people who will be fashioned by the Holy Spirit to reveal his design of the Church in this age. Exhibiting God’s ideal will demand more than slight modifications of procedures for organization and rearrangement of worship patterns. Innovations, bizarre architecture, and modern techniques are obviously superficial. The change must be more profound.
There is an intrinsic need for a rebirth of Holy Spirit leadership. Revival would be produced by a bold reaffirmation of the unique message of our Movement concerning the Church as a visible body of believers, free from Satan’s bondage, deception, carnality, and sectarianism. A strong proclamation of the Word will project clear direction. The Spirit and the Word are God’s agents for continued reformation.
Castings for the Church of the future demand new strategies. The Church must be more than a crowd watching a performance. Worship must result in witness. Communion must lead to commitment. Motivation is required to involve all available human resources. Youth must be challenged to worthy goals and excited with hope for tomorrow. Pastors must be urged to train and equip the laity to excel in church leadership. The distinction between clergy and laity must be only that of function, not of status or hierarchical division. Women have an abundance of untapped energy and skill to contribute toward new ministries. Retired persons need to be inspired to render time and service for extending the Kingdom.
This is the day of opportunity for the Church of God Reformation Movement. One hundred years of experience establishes confidence. The message of “a united church for a divided world” is most pertinent. Our human resources, material assets, academic skills and techniques are abundant. Communication facilities are fabulous. The refueling of the Holy Spirit is available. The Bible charts our purpose and direction. The “unfinished” Reformation Movement opens a new chapter with a future as bright as the promises of God!
Taken from A Time To Remember: Projections edited by Barry L. Callen and published by Warner Press in 1978.
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