Do you belong to a faithful and healthy local church whose leaders meet biblical standards (1 Tim. 3), have courage, (Titus 1:9) and are watching over your soul understanding they will give account to God (Hebrews 13:17)?
How can you be sure?
Should you lovingly challenge your church leaders and fellow members on certain inconsistences that clearly seem to go against God’s Word and the truth?
How can you do this in a way that would honor God and respect and love them?
These are but a few massive questions that all those who claim to follow the risen Lord Jesus Christ according to the Word of God have had to address in recent years. This is true all across Illinois and indeed our entire nation. Left and right, the people of God have been bombarded by clever sounding yet overwhelmingly evil, godless, and toxic ideologies as the church has had to refute enemies outside and enemies within.
The true church of Christ has had to refute Social Justice, Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory, Black Lives Matter, Government propaganda, Covid lies, the prosperity gospel, LGBTQ+, the Euthanasia movement, and much much more.
Tragically, we have seen compromise after compromise among church leaders in our day on the very basic matters that should not be controversial at all. Even the newest Christian or most immature believer who claims Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords should have been taught that the Word of God reigns supreme and is holy and good and righteous. Yet recently we have witnessed:
- Professing Christian New York times columnist David French claiming Drag Queen Story Hour is a blessing of the fruit of liberty and support of so called “gay marriage.”
Perhaps you stayed at your church but were troubled by how your church’s leadership handled these and other issues. Perhaps you are asking if you should remain there or leave and find another more faithful local church. Perhaps you put your head down and never spoke up at the time but now you know you must speak up and do the right thing (James 4:17).
Perhaps you are asking: Should I care if my local church’s leaders have been wrong about key moral matters of our day, never speaking up courageously for God’s clear truth?
If your church does preach the true and biblical gospel, we do not urge you to leave swiftly and without careful, clear biblical thinking and follow through. Your faithfulness matters to God including how you go about this. There is no perfect local church.
Join us this Friday, January 31 @ 6:30 p.m. at New Hope Community Church in Palatine as we address: “How to Discern a Healthy from an Unhealthy local Church”. Join local Chicagoland pastors as they present how to exercise biblical discernment and how to know if your local church is healthy and glorifying God. After these short talks you can ask questions that local pastors will answer.
If you claim to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, you need to be able to heartily affirm:
- “Yes, I am a member of a faithful and healthy local church family!”
- “Yes, my church’s leaders are faithfully following the Lord Jesus!”
- “Yes, by God’s grace our church, while not perfect, is faithful, serious, and consistent in taking the whole counsel of God-breathed Scripture with utmost dedication!”
The Christ confessing covenant community is absolutely vital for every true believer. Regardless of our flaws, no Christian should forsake the bride of Christ which reveals tremendous ignorance, arrogance and worst of all often a damnably foolish and false assurance of one’s salvation. There is no perfect church and never will be. But there are faithful churches that exalt Christ and are bringing glory to God even as they walk faithfully according to God’s Word together.
Charles Spurgeon once helpfully noted:
“If I had never joined a church till I had found one that was perfect, I should never have joined one at all; and the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect church after I had become a member of it. Still, imperfect as it is, it is the dearest place on earth to us.”
May all of us humbly, faithfully and gladly belong to and submit to leaders in a faithful and healthy local church family. May each of our local churches and each Christian member be increasingly committed to Christ’s Lordship and the whole counsel of God’s Word to the glory of God and exaltation of Christ in our nation! Join us:
Friday at New Hope Community Church in Palatine @ 6:30PM
