Rediscovering Church: Embracing the Multitudes

July 16th, 2008 by J.R. Miller Leave a reply »

The church in the West is going through some growing pains. The Gospel needs to remain unchanged, but the way we approach Divine-Community certainly needs to mature. As each follower of our Lord ponders the path of change, we must not forget the mission of the church. We, the people, must continue to be a place of reunion–open to the multitudes.

Look at the life of Jesus.

Matthew 13:1-3a That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. 2 And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach. 3 And He spoke many things to them…”

Jesus did not minister exclusively to the disciples. He was not happy to teach in the comfort of a house among his friends. Jesus made his way out of the house and into the community where the multitudes waited.

Just as Jesus preached to the crowds, today’s teacher must look for, and create, opportunities to preach to the multitudes. As we seek to restore the intimacy of church, which has far too long been ignored, let us not throw away the power of gathering the crowds. The traditional Sunday morning service cannot replace the intimate gathering of Family. Yet, if we let the Spirit work, the Sunday gathering can be one of many places for teaching, healing and the ministry of Jesus to the multitudes.

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Posted in Christology, Discipleship, Ecclesiology

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