Persecution Could Bless the Church in America

Sorry for the lapse in blog posts this last week. My wife and I have spent the last week moving from our old apartment to a townhome. We really like the new place. It gives us much more room and is pretty freakin' cool! All that said, here's a short blurb from Jared Wilson about the possibility of persecution blessing the church in America. Hope it makes you think. I'm in total agreement. What about you?

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. -- Matthew 5:10

At the time of the Boxer Rebellion, 230 Christian missionaries and 23,000 Chinese Christians were killed in China. In the years following, the number of Christians in China grew to 70,000. Then communist China really cracked down, outlawing Christianity and expelling all Christian missionaries. The number of Christians in China grew 100 fold to 70 million.

In our nation there is some concern among Christians about religious freedoms and the state recognition of Christian expression. These concerns are, for the most part, justified. Arguably. But there are many overreactions, many voicing of concerns that belie the reality of the God who is sovereign over everything, including nations, kings, and laws.

But let's not presume to think we are presently persecuted. In Matthew 5:11, Jesus says, 'Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.' Persecution is a blessing. Either he meant that or he didn't. The Beatitudes are proclamations, not commands, so we don't need to seek persecution. It's not the blood of the one with a martyr complex that is the seed of the church. Perhaps socialism is creeping into America. We should be concerned about this and talk about it, against it even.

But let's also not assume that persecution would be the worst thing to befall us. It could be, actually, that persecution, should it come, is the best thing to happen to the American church."

God's Masterpiece

Church is not a mindless tradition that we as Christians attend to once a week.  And it's not a place where we gather with friends to hear a motivating message about how to live better lives.  No.  It is much bigger and immensely more important. 

"What is the really important thing that is happening in the world in our generation?  Where are the really significant events taking place? What is the most important thing?  Where do you need to look in the modern world to see the most significant event from a divine perspective?  Where is the focus of God's activity in history?

The most significant thing happening in history is the calling, redeeming, and perfecting of the people of God.  God is building the church of Jesus Christ.  The rest of history is simply a stage God erects for that purpose.  He is calling out a people.  He is perfecting them.  He is changing them.  History's great climax comes when God brings down the curtain on this bankrupt world and the Lord Jesus Christ arrives in his infinite glory.  The rest of history is simply the scaffolding for the real work...

And there will come a day when God will pull down the scaffolding of world history.  Do you know what he will be pointing to when he says to the whole creation, "There is my masterpiece"?  He will be pointing to the church of Jesus Christ.  In the forefront of it all will be the Lord Jesus himself who will come and say, "Here am I, and the children you have given me, perfected in the beauty of holiness."  - Scottish preacher Eric Alexander as quoted by Richard Phillips in Masculine Mandate

Let this encourage you.  God is building & perfecting his people for that glorious day of His return.  And how has God purposed to bring this about?  Through your local church.  We must never forget that God uses means, and what a glorious means this is!  Therefore, when you take the time to cook a meal for the family who is extremely busy with the birth of a newborn, you are God's chosen hammer to drive another nail in the framework of the house of God.  When you sit down with your friend in small group to pray with him for an upcoming surgery, you are the chisel that God used to carefully sculpt His monument in progress.  And when you gently rebuke your brother in Christ to turn from his sin and toward his Savior, you are the brush in the hand of God that gently stroked the canvas of His Masterpiece.  God is perfecting His people, and it is a glorious work!

How to Find a Local Church

Call me weird, but one of things that I really enjoy doing is helping people find a good, gospel-centered, bible-believing church in their area for them to attend.  I believe that where you attend church is an extremely important part of your Christian life.  Therefore, after having had to find a good church to attend twice in the past 5 years (due to relocating to a different area of the Midwest) and after helping many people try to find a good church in their area, I have compiled a short (and hopefully helpful) primer on how to find a good local church.  For future reference, you will be able to access this short how-to on one of the tabs at the top of the blog.  I hope this serves you well!

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There are a few tools that I use first to look for a solid church in a particular area.  I use these because I am totally on board with these ministries and would more than likely recommend any church that is affiliated with them.  Here are the four:

Sovereign Grace Ministries: The church that my wife & I attend is part of Sovereign Grace Ministries.  I can't say enough good things about this ministry.  If there is one in your area, your church search may be easier than you think.
The Gospel Coalition: This is a gospel-centered organization for pastors & their churches.  You can find out more about them here.
9Marks: 9Marks is "a ministry dedicated to equipping church leaders with a biblical vision and practical resources" whose goal is to help create "churches that display the glory of God."  You can find out more about them here.
Acts 29 Network: This is Mark Driscoll's church planting network.

So, here's how I would suggest you use these 4 tools.  Go to each website and do a search for churches in your area.  If you find one in your area, I would definitely add that to list of churches to visit.  Now, obviously, there are lots of great churches out there that will not show up on these tools.  These 4 sites are just meant to help you find some of the great churches out there.  This is just the first place I would go to start looking because of the high quality of these gospel-centered ministries.

Now, before you expand your search any further, you should probably sit down and figure out exactly what you are looking for in a church.  One of the great things that looking for a local church does is that it drives you right back to Scripture in order to help you figure out what the bible teaches.  Consider it a mini-theology course.  It will force you figure out what the heck you believe.

Now, maybe you've already done this.  If so, awesome!  But if not, you will need to decide on what are theological must-haves (gospel-centered, justification by faith alone, God's Word as inerrant, etc.), theological convictions (infant baptism or believer's baptism? tongues, prophecy, & healing or not? Calvinist or Arminian? women as possible pastors or not?), and preferences (worship style, dress code, small groups, etc.) in a church.  Obviously, theological must-haves & theological convictions are much more important in a church than your preferences.  Here's an good rule-of-thumb to go by: The church you decide on must meet all of your theological must-haves, most (if not all) of your theological convictions, and some of your preferences.

Once you've figured out your list of theological must-haves, theological convictions, and preferences, start compiling a list of churches to visit by looking at each church's:

• Statement of Faith on their website to see if they match your theological must-haves and convictions.
• Vision/Purpose Statement on their website to see if you are on board with them.
• Example of what a Sunday gathering might look like to see how they match up with your preferences.
  

After you've compiled the list, start visiting each church and whittle down the list.  While you won't be able to get all of your questions answered by visiting each church's website, you should be able to answer almost all the rest by visiting the church itself.  You can tell a lot about a church by the books they stock in their bookstore, by the songs they sing during worship, by the pastor's sermon, and by the people themselves.

Once you've whittled down your list to a few that you are seriously interested in, I would recommend scheduling a meeting with the pastor of each church left on your list.  In that venue, you can ask more specific questions that you would like answered before you decide on which church you want to attend.  These might be questions you never got answered when you were looking through the church's website.  Or they may be more theological questions that can be best answered by the pastor himself.  Whatever the questions might be, it's good to sit down and have a conversation with the pastor himself to get the best understanding of what a church is like.

After you've done all that, the last and most important thing you can do is pray.  God is glorified when you acknowledge that no amount of research could ever replace the guiding hand of God in your decision of where to attend church.

For your added benefit, I've added some additional helpful resources to aid you in your church search.  Hope this helps!

What are the 9 marks of a healthy church?:  These 9 marks will really help you evaluate different churches as you go and visit.  It's thoroughly biblical and extremely helpful.
Why Join a Church by Don Whitney
Questions to Ask When Looking for a Church Home by Don Whitney
Practical Tips on How to Find a Church by Dan Phillips

John Piper's Thoughts on Being a Part of an Online Church

I appreciated John Piper's thoughts here.  Online churches are becoming more and more popular with the emergence of streaming audio and video.  You can now, literally, attend church from the comfort of your own home right in front of a computer.  Without becoming too long-winded, let me just say this and I'll let Pastor Piper do the rest.  Our Christian lives are meant to be lived in community, not isolation.  We are Christ's body... many different parts forming one whole church.  So get off your butt, get dressed, drive to church, and begin the hard yet joyful work of living out your Christian life in community... at church!