As we look at the huge task of church planting, I can’t help but think of churches that I know of in America. It is tempting to be critical of them as I recognize problems and things they are not doing wisely or biblically. There is no such thing as the perfect church, and I know that God uses imperfect churches and individuals to accomplish His purposes. However, wouldn’t we be more effective in His service if we followed the principles laid down in the New Testament for how churches should form and operate?
One of the things that really struck me was when we read about the way that New Tribes missionaries are encouraged to hold separate meetings for believers and unbelievers. This point needs some clarification, so please don’t stone me yet. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the methodology New Tribes uses, I’ll try to give some background. A man by the name of Trevor McIlwain developed a Bible teaching curriculum that missionaries use to develop the actual Bible lessons they will teach their target people group. This teaching curriculum has 7 “Phases”. The first phase (intuitively referred to as Phase 1) is evangelistic in nature and starts in the beginning with God creating the universe and traces the story of the promised Deliverer as the story unfolds throughout the Old Testament. It emphasizes important Biblical themes about God, man, and Satan as these themes come up in the stories. It culminates with the life of Christ and His finished work.
After the presentation of Phase 1, it is likely there will be some believers. At this point, the people need to recognize that God sees a difference between those who are in His family and those who are not. Those who understand and believe the message (as best as the missionary can tell) are the start of a church and will need to grow to maturity. For this reason, there are 6 other phases, which you can look up if you are interested to see what each one contains. Now you have two groups of people, some needing to become born again and others needing to mature in the Lord. But how do you incorporate the correct information into your lesson for both groups? You don’t. Instead of trying to teach both groups at the same time, you should encourage the believers to also start meeting on their own. They can continue to attend the Phase 1 lessons (assuming Phase 1 is taught again), but they need to get beyond these foundational principles. The unbelievers should not be encouraged to attend the believers’ meetings, lest they latch onto truths that only apply to believers and gain a false hope.
As I thought about this, my mind wandered to the church services I have been a part of where a salvation message is preached and people are encouraged to walk the aisle. I’m not sure that practice is in the Bible, and it is sad to me for a number of reasons. How can the believers get the solid, deep spiritual truth they need when the pastor is trying to incorporate a salvation message every Sunday? How are people supposed to understand what being “saved” means if they don’t know that God is a holy and righteous judge, that we are helpless sinners, and that Christ made full payment for us on the cross?