If sexual immorality in the church is a sign of spiritual health, the the Roman Catholic church must be the most spiritual group of people on earth.  What with all the peodophilia among priests....

I see his point.  We are growing and I would 90% of our church is straight off the street.

And a majority of our attenders are dealing with major sin issues in their lives, like promiscuity and living with someone, drugs, etc.

If we are outward as a church and effective and active in evangelism, then we will have people with major issues checking out the church.

Our society as a whole has major issues.  And outreach today is defnitely different then the outreach of yesterday.  And our churches should reflect it.

Attraction is one thing; transformation is another.  If the meat market remains nothing more, and the heretics remain deceived, all the while attracting more heretics, then soon teh inmates will be running the asylum.

Speaking as a single who also leads a group of singles, I loved the challenging thoughts.  We singles can get so self-focused.  It’s good to be reminded that “health” means focusing on Jesus and others, because so often we are told (and believe) that health means finding that “special” someone.  I like the concept of stewardship.  That’s applicable no matter what your life stage is.  Good stuff!

Jud,

I guess you want your believers in your church to be fully-formed. I do not expect that of young and immature believers. And I would argue that the first-century church (yes, that one in Acts) was not as you characterize it. The Corinthians needed STRONG correction about behavior on many fronts, including sexual immorality.

The idea of repentance implies that I have some progress to accomplish, and it’s not all done with everybody in an instant… Would you suggest that we put anyone who hasn’t sufficiently repented out of our fellowship? Biblical examples of that are rare, and for the purpose of that person’s benefit. Many of the corinthian believers were behaving VERY badly, and yet they weren’t all expelled.

Peter ,

Where did I assert that all the believers in my Church were fully formed? And what is this idea of being “fully formed” anyway? I became as “formed” as I will every be when I understood that work Christ did on the Cross and his bodily resurrection were done for ME a wretched sinner and I repented and believed. I hear the concept of “spiritual formation” but I think that translates to WORKS!

Back to the issue, the article above implies that a healthy church is marked by sexual immorality and heresy… perhaps that is because these churches are converting people to “another jesus” with “another gospel”.

That is the sad case of MANY MANY MANY “growing” churches today.

Peter,

Ok, non-believers then.

If you are trying to draw “seekers” in and preaching anything other than the Gospel of Jesus Christ I totally understand being “known for sexual immorality or heresy.

BUT.

When you actually preach the Gospel one of two things id going to happen.

1) The lost will leave, never return and ridicule you on the way out.

or

2) The lost will become aware of God’s incomprehensible HOLINESS, their total depravity and repent and believe in Christ.

If your church is known for those living out sexually immoral lives and spouting heresy “hanging around"… you are presenting another Gospel.

Peter,

My former church had a guy who had been their FOUR years. One day between services out of the blue in our conversation he tells me how thankful he is that our church isn’t “one of those churches” that would interfere with his practice of Zen Buddhism. There were many more people like that in this church who had been in tow that long or nearly as long who were as lost as lost could be.

Why? .... Simple ....

This church emphasized “another gospel”, and this church and it’s pastor are considered one of the more up and coming influential churches in our region. The Gospel and the full counsel of God are abandoned for “How to love your Job”, and “16 ways whacky families work”

We just had a couple get married who had lived together a while. They used their wedding as an awesome experience for those who attended of finally putting God first in their lives, and the joy that following Jesus and doing things God’s way brings.

Inspiring, to say the least! I’m glad they stayed around as long as they did, and that we didn’t chase them away.