Daily writing prompt

Do you need time?

View all responses

Life is a season. It’s a growth process. Growth requires time. Like all human beings and other living things, I need time to develop and mature.

However, time alone isn’t enough for me to fully grow into maturity. I also require the physical necessities of food, oxygen, exercise, and sleep, and the non-physical needs of encouragement, wisdom, intelligence, inner peace, discipline, love, righteousness, hope, relationships, and purpose.

Christianity, which was designed to be a daily guide to maturity, has abandoned its role and replaced it with one tightly controlled hour of spectator time on Sunday morning. This has robbed people of true growth by distracting them from the ultimate source of growth — the presence and workings of the living God.

Christianity’s not about being in attendance at religious services. It’s about being in Christ no matter where you are.

Pastors seem to be afraid to open the mic and trust the people they’ve preached to for years to share what Jesus puts on their heart. Since they don’t trust the congregation enough to open the mic and let people share what Jesus puts on their heart, they must not believe that their sermons have been very effective.

If churches would let the risen Jesus be the Builder, they wouldn’t be programmed, structured, and controlled by human leadership. Keeping Christians silent about Jesus quenches the Holy Spirit. Give people time to testify in church!

Now is the time for churches to recapture and implement the concept of ekklesia — the fully participatory town hall meeting in ancient Greek cities that Jesus said He will build. To get started search for: Beyond Church Ekklesia. People “plant churches” but Jesus said He will build His ekklesia.

It’s time to set the living Jesus free from the prison of church! “We mentioned that Jesus was imprisoned in the system of Roman Catholicism and that you couldn’t get to Him except through that system. In more subtle ways this system of intermediaries is found within Protestantism too . . . we stop at the church and give our loyalty and love to that and never get to the living Christ.” –E. Stanley Jones

Let’s set Jesus free to be the literal Head of His body. We desperately need to let the risen Jesus be the direct Leader of His people (and not just a figurehead) when we gather in His name!