The evangelical view of the church–my piece of the ecclesiastical pie–is weak on a number of levels. These weaknesses, in my estimation, lead to lesser and lesser influence in the modern world and a dysfunctional ecclesiology. Here are at least 26 weaknesses:
a) it views church as a funeral procession for Jesus rather than a triumphant resurrection procession,
b) it disincentivizes male participation,
c) it makes the Bible secondary and human creativity primary,
d) it views Jesus’ authority over the world in similar categories to Satans’ (a misunderstanding of II Cor. 4:4),
e) it treats the themes of worship as preferential (see letter c),
f) it belittles the sacraments,
g) it is not future-oriented, so it’s bound to do theology only for the present,
h) it is content to keep Christians at a basic mode of growth,
i) it forgets its origins, thus minimizing the lessons of history,
j) it doesn’t rejoice enough,
k) it fails to view the church with the war-like categories of Scriptures,
l) it begins in Matthew when it should begin in Genesis,
m) it forgets the little ones in the life of the church,
n) it doesn’t view catholicity in a positive light,
o) it doesn’t read broadly enough (see letter n),
p) it fails to encourage women to pursue good theology,
q) it doesn’t practice church discipline,
r) it doesn’t sing enough,
s) it doesn’t encourage hospitality,
t) it fails to pray for the kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven,
u) it would rather sacrifice at the altar of sports than the altar of God on Sundays,
v) it views food and fellowship primarily as consumption rather than communion,
w) it reads too little Bible,
x) it is inconsistent in applying the Gospel to society, education and culture.
y), it’s too casual or non-interested in Creeds; how many evangelical churches even recite the creeds?
z) it is incoherently trinitarian instead of intentionally so.
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