8/24/2020 - Post RCNE

Life after RCNE has me asking a number of questions. What do I believe the church is supposed to be? What should it look like? How should it behave? How should people treat each other? I'll try to answer some of my own questions, and hopefully it will help me make sense of the last few years of experience.

How do I feel about what happened? I feel like me, and my entire family, and others who were passively ex-communicated were abandoned by many who called us friends. It's hard to take someone seriously when they throw around terms like “family” and “brother” when they treat you like trash. We’re all standing together… until we aren’t.

To me, those who remained look nothing more than opportunists, like those ready for a power grab after the fall of a powerful government, dictator, or king.

What happened after leaving was painful, however the group of us that started meeting together were able to help each other heal. I believe that God used this painful experience as an opportunity to reveal what biblical church is supposed to look like.

What do I believe the church is supposed to be? I firmly believe that if the early followers of Jesus were to walk into a modern day church, they would be confused. They would not recognize what most modern churches consider a normal worship service as a continuation of what they know. They would not be able to connect the dots between the book of Acts and our modern interpretation of Christian worship.

If something ceases to have the identifying traits, would it be considered the same thing? If a fish grew arms and legs, and started growing hair, would it still be a fish? In the same way if our gatherings don't have much in common with what is described in the book of Acts, as well as the rest of the New Testament, is it still the same institution?

What should the church look like?
Matthew 16:18 - The church is created by and belongs to Jesus.