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"I left church because I didn't like the worship."
- Anonymous
"The worship wasn't about you."
- God
"Church" - a movement of people who follow Jesus as Lord on his Kingdom mission.
"Church" is not: a building. One doesn't "go to church." One either is the church or not.
"Pastor" (with "teacher," "apostle," evangelist," and "prophet") train and equip the followers of Jesus to do skilled servant work.
Real Church is like an army. Because we are in a battle. The battle is fundamentally spiritual, and the weapons of our warfare are spiritual. We do not battle against flesh and blood, and one's military armor consists of non-physical battle-gear that is both protective and offensive-minded.
God gives to the Church persons to equip the Church for the work of ministry. The purposes of God are not to entertain the troops. The Real Church spends its money and resources and time on The Mission of Jesus, not on pageantry displayed before a passive audience of pew-packing entertainment-seekers.
When Church is a movement there is less inner conflict. When Church is an Entertainment Center there's the strife of staffing and funding the many programs to "keep people in the church."
Do I like to hear a hundred voice choir sing Handel's "Messiah?" Yes. But the Messiah Himself would find such a thing useless if the people did not emerge from the performance aflame with God, putting on spiritual armor, taking up weapons, and actively engaging in rescuing spiritually frozen souls.
