This is an article that I just read on the Monday Morning Insight blog. I found it interesting to say the least and I wanted to get your feedback on it. Read it below and let me know what you think!
Imagine... joining forces with another church in another denomination to reach people for Christ... read this from the Houston Chronicle about two huge churches in Houston that put any differences aside on Easter to attempt to reach people for Christ...
The Rev. Ed Young of Second Baptist Church and the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell of Windsor Village United Methodist Church hope to fill the baseball stadium's 42,000 seats Sunday morning for an interracial, interdenominational worship service.
Young and Caldwell, are nationally known pastors of two of the city's biggest churches.
Young, whose church has a membership roll of 42,000, describes the service as ''the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as well as an outreach to the people of Houston to come to know Christ."
Members of both churches have been encouraged to invite not only family and friends but also those who don't attend either church or any church.
"If this were about Second Baptist and Windsor Village only, I wouldn't do it," said Caldwell, who pastors the largest United Methodist Church in the nation with more than 15,000 members, most of them black.
"This is about bringing men and women, boys and girls under one roof to celebrate the resurrection of our lord and savior Jesus Christ and then encouraging those persons who decide to develop a personal relationship with Jesus to go to the church of their choice," Caldwell said.
It will also be "a history-making moment," Caldwell said of the stadium gathering of the predominantly white and black megachurches. But the event transcends racial and denominational lines.
This fits in perfectly with a comment posted by Wendi over the weekend here at MMI:
"Last year at our church’s mission emphasis month was Latin America. One Sunday afternoon about 100 church leaders gathered to hear a speaker talk about what was happening in Latin America in terms of evangelism. The growth of the gospel was (is) phenomenal. It was a year ago, and I don’t have the stats to quote at my fingertips. Suffice it to say that the growth of THE CHURCH in Latin America is nothing short of miraculous. I have no reason to doubt the statistics, as they were gathered and provided by many different mission organizations.
After his talk, someone from the audience raised their hand during Q & A time. He asked: “Would you attribute the growth to be more through the work of fundamental evangelical mission organizations or Charismatic mission organizations (which have a strong presence in Latin America). Our speaker took a deep breath and a long pause. I obviously cannot recall his words verbatim, but I certainly remember the message therein.
“I will not dignify that question with a response, nor could I answer it if I was inclined to, because in Latin America we are ONE church. We only attribute the growth to the work of the Holy Spirit. We offer different ministry within the local communities we serve, but when it comes to reaching Latin America for Christ – we are one. We are all well aware of doctrinal and theological differences, but these are not discussions we have when determining our mutual strategy for evangelism. The fact that you ask such a ridiculous question may provide a clue as to why North America is the only continent on this planet where the church is shrinking instead of growing. [This line I do remember verbatim]. American evangelicals need to get over themselves.”
[Click here to read more of this article at MondayMorningInsight.com]
Is it possible to do as Ed Young and Kirbyjon Caldwell did yesterday? Sure, we have theological differences... but do we always have to bring them up when it comes to evangelism when we agree on the basics? Is it time for us to get over ourselves? What holds our/your church back from joining together with others to mutually reach your community?
Any comments? I would love to hear your thoughts on this!
This is so interesting. Matt and I were doing a Bible Study tonight in 1 Corinthians 1, where it says in verse 10, "...agree with each other and not be split into groups. I beg that you be completely jointed together by having the smae kind of thinking and the same purpose." I think that we should all be seeking to save the lost and to show them who Jesus Christ is and what He did for them, regardless of what each other feel is right. That one purpose that is being mentioned in Corinthians is to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ, and we should all be set to have that same purpose regardless of what denomination we are. It's like what Pastor Jon said on Easter, "It is about relationships not religion."
Posted by: Kim | April 17, 2006 at 10:28 PM
Uniting in worship - sounds almost as radical as that "Christ is for Jews and Gentiles" message in the New Testament! When we were in San Antonio several years ago two of the largest churches in the area had a yearly "pastor swap" where each pastor preached at the other church one Sunday. One was Church of Christ and one was Southern Baptist. We had attended both churches during our 3 month visit to the area, and both were teachers committed to the truth of the Bible. Amazingly, the other local churches were very publicly against this "cross denomination" preaching and made it an issue in the paper for several weeks. How sad that we are so divided. How many could we reach if we united in the message of salvation through Jesus Christ and quit "majoring" on minor issues.
Posted by: Kim Webb | April 18, 2006 at 11:02 AM