Do you remember an article we published when Modi won the election, the second time? Recently I received a Whatsapp forward in which a Malayalee Christian Pastor is asking the listeners to pray for the state of Uttar Pradesh. He is complaining that the police are rounding up the pastors and arresting them. Along with the message he is attached pictures of Soldiers hauling up militants in Kashmir and bullet-ridden body of a woman. I have reasons to believe that these are not connected to Uttar Pradesh. They are using these kinds of unscrupulous means to make believers cry and donate to them. I am sure that sincere believers will pray for a change in the state. But come to think of it. You cannot place the blame on the BJP government’s door in its entirety. There are elements in Christianity which are a black mark on Christ. Jesus will bring in situations which will purge these black marks.
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Pastors like these are not worried about the souls in Uttar Pradesh. But their concern is that their business houses in the state are being closed down. I would like to enumerate the flawed church model applied by Christian business houses including TPM. I strongly believe that Jesus is using the Modi Government straighten out many things in India.
I would like to take this opportunity to show the contrast between the Church of Jesus Christ and the Institutional Church that has become nowadays.
Table of Contents
How the Early Church was structured
We have the Bible with us to give insights on how the church was structured. A local church is a community of disciples. Disciples come into existence, in a place as a result of the preaching of the Gospel. The seed of the church is laid by the Gospel preaching.
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
The Great Commission
Initially, the Apostle/Evangelist stays on with the community for a few months/years and ensures that the disciples are put in the right track to continue with their lives under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He ordains one of them as Overseer and other seniors as Deacons.
So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.
The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
Even though there are an Overseer and deacons in the assembly, each one of them is primarily taught by the Holy Spirit Himself.
Needless to say that the Ordained Elder is from within the same community and a RESIDENT OF THAT TOWN. He is NOT an Appointee by Paul Corporation Church. He is not being transferred by Paul every six months fearing that he starts an affair with a sister. In short, he has to be settled in that place with good family life. Paul describes the basic qualifications which he would look in an Elder who is to be ordained. Note the first verse below. The job of an overseer is NOT a position, but a TASK. It carries responsibility and no allowances.
Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full[a] respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.
The Growth Pattern of Apostolic Churches
When the members of a local assembly increases in number, it should not be assumed that the Overseer also starts growing as is with corporate business houses. He does not become a Centre Overseer with many sub local Overseers under him. They do not purchase big plots of land, construct auditoriums and name it CHURCH. A fellowship is no different than a family gathering. The chord that ties each member is LOVE. There is no superiority or inferiority within them. The elder Serves the Younger.
In Acts 2, we see that the disciples increased in number by huge margins. In the very first day, Three Thousand people were added to the church. The Growth was so phenomenal that the numbers of disciples grew in leaps and bounds each day. By today’s thinking, they should have been gathering in an IBR type facility within a month. We do not see anything of that kind. Rather, they gathered in their homes for the Lord’s supper.
….. They BROKE BREAD IN THEIR HOMES and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
The homes during those days were not bigger than what we have now. So it is quite natural that they split into small congregations and gathered in different homes (Rom 16:5).
The Nature of Relationships in local churches – Early Christianity
As mentioned earlier, the Overseer is the Primary Servant. He is the one who leads in SERVING. This is very much contrary to today’s way where the Pastor is seen as a professional who receives Monetary compensation for his Sermons and actions in the Worship Service. Everybody in the fellowship chips in with whatever they are endowed with. The Overseer is not an overarching figure who overpowers the rest of the members. The members are also not sitting in the fellowship as onlookers. They all have gifts endowed by the Holy Spirit and each one of them are using the gifts per the unction they have. EACH OF OF THEM SUFFER PAIN AND REJOICES IN HONOUR OF THE OTHER.
If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, EACH ONE OF YOU has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.
To be continued…..
Thank you Admin, for this enlightening article.
3 days back I had a discussion with my friend on Church proceedings and gathering, for that I shared links of your past articles on ‘CHURCH’ :
1) https://www.stas-afke.com/blog/2017/12/03/defining-the-church-of-god-1/
2) https://www.stas-afke.com/blog/2017/12/05/defining-the-church-of-god-2/
And I prayed to God to give me even more insight on this topic.
As usual, God answered my prayer with today’s article. Keep going, your articles are very helpful.
This article, even making me to introspect the political changes happening in Andhra Pradesh as ‘Janasena Party’ made an alliance with ‘BJP’ yesterday and BJP gave a direct statement saying: “We won’t allow any kind of state funded Conversions in this state.” It indirectly stated to AP CM Jagan’s ‘Rs 5,000 monthly honorarium to pastors’. (https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/andhra-govt-pay-rs-5000-monthly-honorarium-pastors-bjp-dubs-jagan-anti-hindu-108514)
5000 Rs .
May seem wonderful in the sight of believers, but its absolutely wrong .
Imagine the bjp or owaisi..? Govt doing similar
Support to hindu priests and mullas..?
This article will be a hard pill to swallow to many christians but it is the truth. Modern christianity is a big business and root of it all is the “Love of Money”. Most of the so called pastors especially in the pentecostal circles have sold their souls to mammon and will do anything for the extra buck.
Unfortunately the laity because of their lack of true biblical knowledge are being led down the garden path with promises of health, wealth and prosperity. TPM is no exception as they are the most subtle of the lot with their self confessed “we have left everything” cry.
Open your eyes, folks and check if you are being exploited by these charlatans and stop funding the harlots.
The courage of the admin in writing these hard truths is admirable.
You despise TPM. The spirit which is working in you isn’t clearly Godly. I get that you hate it. I am myslef a believer of TPM. And I hate quite a few things there in TPM tbh. But I never back bitch about it coz that’s not what God wants. Every single church is flawed. Hate does not make it right. I pray that peace come upon your mind and soul. And all I can do is pray for the church to make things right or not. It’s upto God. It’s His will. All you can do is follow it or don’t. Nobody is enforcing it upon you. And now coming to Modi. Oh you say Jesus is doing what with Modi? OMG. I know you are blind in spirit but you must be physically blind too to not see what’s happening around. As you said Uttar Pradesh news might be wrong/fake dude. And there might be many churches who make it a business. But there was this group in Kerala called compassion. It was run by IPC church. What the group does is provide FREE tuition for students below poverty line who couldn’t afford money. They used to provide food for the kids every day before tuition starts. Hold your thoughts before you type anything. My mum was a teacher there. She and her friends taught there for more than 15 years. It was for free. Like a charity all the teachers used to teach there. I’ve been there my whole life with my mum. I’ve seen kids coming and telling thanks to my mum for teaching(so they didn’t stop schooling) and also for the food coz they couldn’t afford to eat a good meal a day. This compassion group was running all over India. They got fundings from Australia mainly. They used to give things for the kids for free.(Goods like bags,milk powder,nutrition food,books,dresses). It was a charity mission. When Modi was first elected. He stopped the funding saying they are spreading Christianity. That’s a bullshit coz they never promoted Christianity there. I’ve been there. They just have a prayer before food ( like all schools Hindu or Christian schools). And that’s not promoting Christianity. They ran the group few more years with the fundings they had. But later on they had to stop the entire operation coz they didn’t have money. And I can assure you that there are many kids starving. And many might have stopped their schooling after this group was cancelled. Don’t write some bullshit that you don’t know. “Jesus is using Modi to straighten things” that’s the first joke I’ve heard this year. Thanks for making me laugh brother. Don’t be consumed by your hate towards a church to fall out from faith dear brother. You wanna mention anything brother come on let’s have a talk.
Dear Mel,
Stop exhibiting your novice nature here. Just because you come by changing names often, does not mean we do not know. We are gracious to accept your comments. This article was written for people who run business in the name of Jesus. It is regarding people who would like to spread false stories with unrelated photos to trick innocents.
First of all, some factual data checks… COMPASSION International is an MNC NGO and not an offshoot of IPC. If your mom had really worked in it, she should have told you.
We have no problems with Genuine Charity work. However, when Charity is done in such a way that you encourage conversion for receiving it, you are neither helping the poor not Jesus.
When Jesus fed the 5000 with loaves, he never did partiality with them. He did not give 5 loaves for his followers and 2 loaves to other onlookers. That is the TPM Way. When a poor sees that his quota of grains is blocked because of his religion, he will change his religion to get his food. Now answer me, is that Jesus or Business? By such crooked practices, you are not doing any good to Christ. If you are really wanting to proselytise, please do that on the basis of GOSPEL and that too to someone who is not waiting for your grants. If you are working, start with your colleagues. If BJP people are calling Christians as “RICE BAG CONVERTS”, there is a reason. Your brain will not grasp it.
Now coming to the business aspects of these so-called Pastors, Do you know how they get the money? They go to places like the US and show pitiable photos of poor people(like the ones displayed in the article). They give false testimonies about Christian Persecution on these people. They make their audience feel guilty and get commitments from them to help these folks. But in reality what happens is that for every $1000, not even $100 reaches these poor people. I know it very well. After a few years, you can see these pastors build mansions and buy luxury cars. Did God drop them this money?
For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
Rom 13:3-5
So dear, please stop being ignorant and do not display that here. This article explains you “WHAT IS A CHURCH”. By the biblical definition, what you call as CHURCH including TPM, is just institution (Religious and Business) and NOT CHURCH. You will do well if you will read these articles though I also know that you WILL NOT READ IT.
https://www.stas-afke.com/blog/2017/12/03/defining-the-church-of-god-1/
https://www.stas-afke.com/blog/2017/12/05/defining-the-church-of-god-2/
https://www.stas-afke.com/blog/2019/04/13/which-church-should-i-go-to-part-1/
https://www.stas-afke.com/blog/2019/04/26/which-church-should-i-go-to-part-2/
And hey, next time you comment, be cautious with your words. We do not take kindly to words like “B***S**T”. If compelled, use such fruits of your spirit to be displayed before your clergy and dear ones. You already have experienced that and I request you to speak gracefully.