[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fwhat-if":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fwhat-if-surround":62},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":10,"columnName":44,"date":45,"description":16,"extension":46,"image":47,"meta":48,"minRead":49,"navigation":50,"path":51,"postType":52,"publication":53,"publicationUrl":47,"seo":54,"stem":55,"topics":56,"__hash__":61},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fwhat-if.md","What If?",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9],"",{"type":11,"value":12,"toc":41},"minimark",[13,17,20,23,26,29,32,35,38],[14,15,16],"p",{},"What if the church didn’t exist? What if Jesus never died and rose again, never said he’d come again, and never promised to build his church upon the rock of his identity as the Christ? What if the New Testament never had been written, and the Lord hadn’t sent his followers to make disciples around the globe?",[14,18,19],{},"What would it be like if no local churches existed anywhere in the world? Where would the fatherless find a family, the lonely find friends, and the sinner find grace? What hospitals, schools, libraries, and benevolent works would be missing? Who would marry you, bury you, and carry you through the tough times? What would it be like if you never could join voices with dozens or hundreds or thousands of believers in harmonious songs of praise?",[14,21,22],{},"Think what your children would miss if the church didn’t exist: cheerful Sunday school teachers who greet them with a smile each Lord’s day, the encouragement of Christian friends, the moral compass of biblical instruction. There would be no older Christians to counsel and advise, no preachers to proclaim the good news of salvation, no teachers to expand our knowledge of God, no Lord’s table to gather around in holy remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice.",[14,24,25],{},"Oh, I know. In real life, our congregations are far from perfect. Like any family, the household of God brings together flawed, ornery people who wrestle with temptation and struggle to get along. Think what Christians faced in the first century. In Acts, there was opposition from without and conflict from within (widows bypassed in the daily service of food, Ananias and Sapphira’s dishonesty, and debates over the circumcision issue). Paul wrote about all sorts of church problems: legalism (Romans and Galatians), sectarianism and misuse of spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians), preachers with less-than-pure motives (Philippians), and complicated false teachings that threatened to pull believers away from Jesus (Colossians). Peter wrote to struggling Christians who suffered for their faith; James’ readers needed to quit merely talking about their faith and put it into practice; John wrote against the backdrop of persecution and the threat of false doctrine. Some first-century Christians were divisive, some were selfish, some were lazy, some misunderstood Jesus’ promise of the Second Coming, some criticized their leaders, and many were immature.",[14,27,28],{},"Yet these same New Testament books refer to the church in glowing, loving terms: the bride of Christ, the household of God, a royal priesthood, a people for God’s own possession, the body of Christ, the flock of God which Jesus bought with his own blood. Since Christ loved the church enough to die for us even while we were sinners, shouldn’t we love the church too—even in its imperfect state?",[14,30,31],{},"If we really love the church, our children are more likely to love it too. So for the sake of our Lord, and for the sake of generations yet to come, let’s love the church!",[14,33,34],{},"What if we stopped name-calling, nitpicking, and preacher-bashing? What if we stopped quenching the Spirit and quibbling with our brethren? What if we determined to be a growing, Christ-centered church where there’s less infighting and more outreaching, less pouting and more praying, less griping and more giving?",[14,36,37],{},"Thank God, not only does the church exist—but when we reflect our Savior’s glory to a world in need, we’re privileged to share in the greatest cause and the noblest fellowship on Earth.",[14,39,40],{},"If we don’t help our children see the church’s good side, who will?",{"title":9,"searchDepth":42,"depth":42,"links":43},2,[],"From the Editor's Desk","1997-08-10","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fwhat-if","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":16},"articles\u002Fwhat-if",[57,58,59,60],"Church Leadership","Biblical Theology","Intergenerational Ministry","Christian Unity","wGtk7NHWDIfVUHPBHLx0itjK2slOiSet3koXkQxKTH0",[63,68],{"title":64,"path":65,"stem":66,"description":67,"children":-1},"What Does a Bridge Cost?","\u002Farticles\u002Fwhat-does-a-bridge-cost","articles\u002Fwhat-does-a-bridge-cost","On June 1 a new bridge is scheduled to open in Canada—a nine-mile-long marvel of engineering that connects Prince Edward Island with New Brunswick and the rest of the mainland. Many welcome the bridge, for it will provide an estimated 25 percent growth in tourism on the island. However, according to an article in *The Wall Street Journal* (February 14, 1997), the project has sparked considerable controversy.",{"title":69,"path":70,"stem":71,"description":72,"children":-1},"What Motivates You?","\u002Farticles\u002Fwhat-motivates-you","articles\u002Fwhat-motivates-you","Remember the song “Winter Wonderland”? It contains a line about a talking"]