I sat with a psychiatrist friend this week who critiqued the western church from the standpoint of an African. He said we compartmentalize our lives to the point where church fits into one part of life, but does not affect the rest of it. For African Christians in general, church is at the heart of life. This is really just another way of saying they understand community better than we do.
Recently I looked at the schedule set in front of me. Taken as a whole, it was rather overwhelming and I was having a hard time figuring out how we would manage to get through it all. So I made a decision. Having read it through once, I would only look at it one day at a time. And that worked for me.
I believe in God’s provision. I believe he is committed to looking after his all his people financially.
I also believe we have a supernatural enemy who wants to rob us of truth, and that one of the most effective ways of accomplishing that is by distorting truth. So if the enemy wants to rob us of the Biblical promise of God’s provision, he will produce a twisted version of it which will lead the weak astray and turn the rest of us off. And this leads us into another form of error. Reaction against distortion turns into a different kind of distortion.
We were involved in yet another conversation about the imperfections of the local church. And imperfect they all are. But some folk seem to live under the illusion that the local congregation they belong to will cater to their crises, meet their needs, satisfy their longing for wonderful encounters with God and provide the best teaching possible, and do all this without requiring them to contribute a whole lot of their emotional, spiritual or financial resources in return. If you ever find the perfect church, as the saying goes, you’ll ruin it as soon as you join.
