Christianity’s latest model

The world is constantly changing. Like the old saying goes,

just when I thought I had all the answers, somebody went

and changed all the questions. Anyone who has purchased

a computer or cell phone in the past 4-5 years is well

aware of how out-of-date they quickly became when the

latest model rolled off the assembly line.
Where The Church is concerned, some say change is

necessary in order to stay in vogue and keep up with the

needs of modern man. We want “church” to be alive and

vibrant. We don’t want anybody falling asleep when they

get there. It’s been said that if we laid all the people who

fall asleep in America’s churches end-to-end…well,

they’d be a lot more comfortable.
Seriously, folks, today’s Church has so greatly strayed

from the original model that most denominations today

only remotely resemble The Church of the New Testament.

If a first century Christian were miraculously transported

into a modern MegaChurch, that old saint would ask things

like:
“What’s all this?”
“Where’s the food?”
“Why are we seated in rows?”
“Why is that man doing all the talking? Does anyone else

have a song, a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation,

a tongue or an interpretation? All of these must be done for

the strengthening of the church!”
“Why have they confined their worship to within this

beautiful building?”
“The money in that basket…who gets it all…the widows

and orphans?”
Let’s compare. In the early years, the work of the Church

established by Christ was clearly evident. Scripture refers

to the early Church as “the pillar and ground of the truth”

(I Tim. 3: 15). This was not describing an institution, a

building or a denomination. It was referring to the

followers of Christ’s teachings. Does this verse describe

us today?
THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM
Our Church fathers sought to promote and spread the

Gospel of the Kingdom (Acts 8:1-4; 13:1-5), just as Jesus

taught. Today, it’s the Gospel of Salvation that gets top

billing. With so many salvation “techniques” among our

ranks, the very concept of salvation serves only to divide

rather than unify the Body of Christ as we are all talking

about something different when that matter is discussed.

This is critical for there’s no power without unity.
EDIFICATION
The early Church recognized the importance of edification

– the building up of its members (Eph. 4: 14-16). The

Church cared for the members who needed the necessities

of life (I Cor. 16: 1, 2; I Tim 5: 3-16) and had all things in

common. Does that describe us today?  They saw the

importance of building a Christian community – a family –

a warring clan - where accountability and transparency

would give Church family members the greatest

opportunity to serve one another and undergird one another’s

lives. Were they perfect? No! As long as humans are involved

in anything, perfection will remain a lofty aspiration. That

being said, they were miles closer to that goal than The Church

of the past 1700 years. The building of hospitals to minister to

the physical needs of the world, maintaining entertainment

centers to pacify people’s need for play, and engaging in

politics…though all are good things, these would be foreign

concepts to the early Church. In short, the work of The

Church was to tend to the spiritual growth of those who

chose to follow Jesus Christ’s example and teachings. They

believed in the King, the Kingdom that was within them,

God’s providence in their lives, His desire to have

relationship with them and to work with them to advance

that Kingdom into the lives of others.
STUDY AND PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL
The saints of old understood that the Word of God was to

“reprove, rebuke, and exhort” The Church (2 Tim. 4: 1-5).

They saw Scripture as words to live by for they contained

life itself through the doctrine taught by Jesus. Areas

involving doctrine were not to be altered. They knew they

were not to add to or take away from the scriptures (Rev. 22:

18, 19). They were convinced that those who went beyond

Christ’s teachings did not have God in their lives (2 Jn. 9-11);

there was a reverential fear of doing so. Paul wrote that even

if an apostle or angel proclaimed a different gospel, they were

to be accursed (Gal. 1: 6-9). There’s a lot of that going around

these days.
THE WORD FOR TODAY: REPENT!
The work of The Church is clearly revealed in the New

Testament. Why did we dare to intervene? Why did we attempt

to “fix” what wasn’t broken? Fortunately, in this day when so

many people are restoring old homes and old cars, many are

endeavoring to restore The Church to its original beauty. God’s

ways are perfect; there is no need for modernization (2 Tim. 3:

16, 17). Our desire should be to please God, not ourselves.
It’s time to repent. The Greek word for repent is metanoia, a

word that means “to change one’s mind.” As a whole, The

Church of the past 1700 years has exalted its own traditions,

doctrines and dogmas over the doctrine of Christ. This despite

Jesus’ warning that “the traditions of man make to Word of God

of no effect.” Those are some powerful traditions! Our tendency

to have it our way rather than God’s has resulted in an institution

that is societally and spiritually ineffective. It’s time we not only

ask ourselves the hard questions but we must ANSWER them as

well and then ACT upon those answers.
Do we dare, as individuals and as a whole, examine the

teachings of our denomination – point by point – and ask

ourselves if Christ or His disciples ever taught it or did it

and, if they did not, do away with it? This will take great

courage, so consider the cost. I’m glad to say, I hear from

people on a regular basis who are doing this and making the

difficult yet liberating choice of returning to New Testament

Christianity. For the most part, they’re loving it!
IS IT REALLY NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH?
For those involved in Simple Church, or House Church, have

you truly embraced the ways of the New Testament Church,

or have you merely settled for the new “Homestyle” brand of

“doing church”? Only you can answer that. Researcher George

Barna revealed the following statistics: 91% of those involved

in Simple Church/House Church are merely having Bible Study

while 60% of these do the same thing every time they gather.
Are we creatures of habit, or what? So much for being led by

the Spirit,
Many have exchanged their Institutional Church traditions

for a new Living Room liturgy and choose to call it change!

Exchanging a pew for a recliner in someone’s den hardly

defines a radical repentance.
Friends, “church” is not something we do. Neither is it

someplace we go. The Church is who we ARE; the Ekklesia…

the called out ones. The Church is wherever the soles of your

feet are planted at this moment. Christ is IN you, therefore, the

Kingdom of God is within you. We MUST come to embrace the

truth of this revelation. Frankly, it is the ONLY thing that will

truly unite the Body of Christ.
I repeat: Embracing the TRUTH regarding the Gospel of The

Kingdom is the ONLY thing that will unite the Body of Christ

worldwide. When I was recently asked to teach by phone to an

outdoor conference in Pakistan, that was the ONLY message

God would allow me to preach.
Religion is an enemy of the Kingdom message. Religion is man’s

attempt to reach and appease God; a return to the bondage from

which mankind has been set free by the Blood of Jesus.

Christianity is a lifestyle; a relationship with God, NOT another

of the world’s religions. Those who refer to it as merely another

religion have yet to walk in the light of truth.
Who will go for Him? Who will reach the people on the other

end of the world or across the floor? The Kingdom of God is at

hand. And it’s in YOU, The Church!
Every blessing,
Michael Tummillo
A servant of God
www.YourTown4Jesus.com