If you didn’t read yesterday’s post, I encourage you to do so before you read this one. It will make this post make more sense. The first kind of church we examined was the Biblically-Deprived church. Today we will survey the Biblically-Influenced church. From personal experience and years of observation, it seems to me that the majority of churches in our Southern culture fit into this category.
BIBLICALLY-INFLUENCED churches
Description & Characteristics
- The Word is present. In contrast to the Biblically-deprived church, this church actually does care about the Bible and values its presence in the church. Many members take their Bibles to church services. The pastor takes his Bible into the pulpit and regularly opens it and reads from it. The church’s doctrinal position affirms the Scriptures as the very words of God. The Bible is often referred to in Sunday School classes, discipleship groups, youth group meetings, and children’s classes.
- The Word has competing authorities. The more you hang around the church the more you come to understand that the Scriptures have some competition. Tradition sometimes trumps the Bible. People’s desires often overrule biblical mandates. The pastor’s opinion seems to be more important than what God has said. Cultural trends govern the appearance and content of the ministry.
- The meaning of the Word is subjective. Instead of teaching and declaring the clear meaning of Biblical texts, a “this is what it means TO ME” culture prevails. One person believes a passage means one thing and another person believes it means another. And everyone is ok with that. The church leadership doesn’t equip the members to study the Bible in order to gain the authorial intent of the text. A spiritual fog hovers over the church and though people affirm their commitment to its authority, they don’t really know what it says or means.
- The pastor is a motivational speaker. The Biblically-influenced church often has a charismatic, winsome, genuine man as the pastor. He is funny, serious, loving, and confrontational. He cares about people and does a good job of connecting with the congregation. However, instead of studying and praying through a passage of Scripture throughout the week he relies more on his natural abilities to convey a meaningful, inspirational message on Sunday morning. He will quote the Bible and even make some comments about the text, but mostly he tells stories, gives illustrations, shows videos, and reads poems to make his point. Church members regularly leave feeling inspired to be a better person.
- The Word is informative to my life. Some church members do read their Bibles and some even memorize Scripture passages. They sometimes refer to the Bible to know what to do in a given situation. They use the Bible to help them defend their positions on hot-button issues (e.g. abortion, macro-evolution, gambling, etc.).
- Relationships incorporate Biblical themes (when convenient). Church members often encourage one another that ‘God is in control’ and that ‘He has a plan’ and to remember that ‘He is faithful.’ They sometimes pray for one another, call one another, and help one another in times of suffering. These are all expressions and applications of God’s Word. But often there seems to be a ceiling on the extent to which people know the Scriptures, follow the Scriptures, and love others.
- The Gospel is unclear. If you asked ten different members of this church what the Gospel is you might get ten different answers. For instance: ‘The Gospel is salvation.’ ‘The Gospel is the Ten Commandments.’ ‘The Gospel means to love God and love others.’ ‘The Gospel is the Bible.’ ‘The Gospel is Christianity.’ ‘The Gospel is the story about Jesus.’ ‘I don’t know what the Gospel is.’ ‘The Gospel is the message about Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.’ Because the message of the Gospel is not clear, the power of the Gospel in the members’ lives is untapped.
- God and I make a good team. There is a synergistic approach to the Christian life. ‘If I do my part and God does His part, we will accomplish some great things in this life.’ Instead of understanding the Biblical doctrine of human depravity and divine sovereignty, Christians in this church often view God as a tool or a resource that will help them reach their full potential.
Some other attributes that characterize Biblically-influenced churches include:
- emphasis on Christian virtues rather than the Gospel
- lack of intentional discipleship
- lack of personal accountability
- incorporation of worldly concepts over-and-above Biblical ones
- unhealthy focus on “the Pastor”
Critique
A Biblically-influenced church…
- affirms the divine authority of Scripture (2 Tim. 3:15-17), but doesn’t concentrate its efforts on training people in the Scriptures.
- applies many of the commands of Scripture (2 Tim. 4:1-5; Titus 2:1) except when it is inconvenient or uncomfortable to do so.
- compromises the primary responsibility of church leaders (1 Timothy 3:2; 1 Peter 5).
- affirms the global mission of God (Matt. 28:18-20), but has a difficult time personalizing that mission to everyday life.
Dangers/Effects
A Biblically-influenced church…
- implicitly equates the authority of the world with the authority of the Word, leaving church members with the impression that the world’s wisdom is equally valid to God’s wisdom.
- leaves people with a man-centered view of God rather than a God-centered view of man, producing confusion and pride in the members.
- introduces the ability of the Word to help lives, but puts a restraint on its true transformative power.
A Biblically-Influenced church has a lot of good characteristics and undoubtedly ministers to people’s needs and glorifies God in various ways. Unfortunately, due to the church’s lack of full commitment to the teaching and applications of Scripture all kinds of problems creep into the church. Discouragement, conflict, confusion, and sin can often run rampant in this kind of atmosphere. In an atmosphere like this it is often unclear where the church ends and the world begins (and vice-versa).
by Ryan Limbaugh