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NASB | Luke 18:8 "I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Luke 18:8 "I tell you that He will defend and avenge them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [this kind of persistent] faith on the earth?" |
Bible Question:
At our church we do have Bible Study, Sunday School, and regular Sunday morning services; this is where believers get the Word from. We also have special events once in a while (ie, VBS). However, as mentioned Bible study and Sunday school attendance is very, very low. The teaching that does happen at the church is Biblical; there is nothing wrong or anything heretical about the teaching - in fact I think it is quite good. But there are other issues as mentioned in the original question. Can a church really exist Biblically and with God's blessings if all the leadership (elders/board) are not meeting the character requirements as outlined in Titus and 1 Tim? Our pastors - though we have no official Sr pastor - are good pastors Biblically and character wise - there teaching is well enough. But I feel as it has been almost 3 years with no offical Sr Pastor appointed that we somehow may be lacking vision due to this. We do once in a while get new members - in fact 2 new families are joining our church next week - but new members are far and few in between. The majority of church decisions seems to be made by one elder in particular. This elder is the strongest leader we have - he is one of the few elders that meet elder character traits according to the Bible. The problem is that he is too strong a leader - rarely anything he does can be opposed. |
Bible Answer: Thence12 - From your sketch, it appears as though your church isn't a basket case in any sense! It is not reasonable to expect perfection in any body composed of imperfect human beings. The elder you mentioned may well be taking the lead only because no one else is willing to. Why don't you pray for God's wisdom and for His strength, then roll up your sleeves and get to work! You might be pleasantly surprised at how many sluggish members your example could help mobilize to action too. If you think you have problems and your church has problems, review what the apostles faced in the first century. Pray, be of good cheer, go to work, and see what happens! --Hank |