Page 14 - Ecclesiology Textbook Masters

The Church is Born https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dAKR0kRVus

The Focus of the Church – what it is NOT!

Jesus had a purpose and reason in creating the church. He has ordained specific
tasks and duties that His church is to accomplish here on earth. So, let’s take a look
at what God intends to be the central focus of His church. But before we do that,
let’s look at some things that the church is NOT to focus on…

1. Spending their resources on themselves. Today, some people think of a church
as a building located on the corner of two streets. The closer we get to Christ’s
return, the more the buildings and programs of the church receive special attention.
Christianity Today recently published the results of a survey of 2,200 churches from
around the country (USA). They reported that 47% of the income of the church was
spent on salaries for staff, 22% was spent on the church property, 4% went toward programs, less than
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5% went toward spreading the Gospel in international missions spending. Considering that the primary
command to the church was to spread the Gospel to the nations, it is a shame that the church
congregations today seems to be focused on themselves rather than focusing on the needs of the world.

2. Programs that attract people to the church. The emphasis among many churches today in the world
is to create special programs that will meet the “needs of the members” or attract new members to
come. You can look at some church calendars, and they are filled with events that may not have
anything to do with missions or evangelism or discipleship but solely concentrate on entertainment or
fellowship. I had a pastor who called a music director. His top priority was to see if the candidate had

5 How Churches Spend their Money, PNW News Homepage, by Brant Henshaw.

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