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Mar 23
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The Task of the Church posted by jwatson on Mar 23, 2012

“The church is to stand apart from the marketplace. The church is not a business; she should sell no economic offerings. In an age when more and more of life is being commodified — we are going beyond just the buying and selling of goods and services and now charging for life experiences and personal transformations — the church needs to refrain from participating in this activity. Just because experiences and transformations “sounds like what we do,” as one pastor once told me, that is not a reason to abandon the very limited role for the organized church as prescribed in scripture.”

“The church should not number itself among other worldly enterprises, performing roles properly assigned to other institutions. Instead, the church should be the place where individuals are equipped for when they go forth in their daily online slots pursuits.”

“…the church and pastors are not here to help improve peoples” lives. Leave that for the marketplace and private charity. No, they”re here to provoke people into understanding the need to die to self and to be found in Christ. No orchestrated experience can substitute for good old fashioned preaching of the gospel…”

The church exists to proclaim the gospel: to preach the Word, to administer the sacraments, to exercise proper church discipline. And that”s about it. The rest we should do as private individuals and in collective efforts with others outside of church.”

Quotes from James H. Gilmore, interviewed by Skye Jethani of Leadership Journal in “Risky  Business:  A business expert warns pastors not to emulate marketplace principles” 



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