Starting and leading a local church
Death of Biblical Missions
By David Cox (missionary pastor)
First let me address the reason why this topic is important in the first place. Missions is very simply the reproduction of the entire Christianity in new places where the gospel is not named, or having been named in the place, is currently dead. America has gone from being a missionary sending country to being a missionary needing country in my lifetime. How sad.
Conflict over Personal Preferences
By David Cox
Life defends itself, but in death, one has no control, and priorities seem to fade into non-issues.
Marks of an Unbiblical Church
By David Cox
See Tract:
Whereas a good church is a pretty focused thing, a bad or unbiblical church can take many different forms. Because of this we need to divide our study into areas. First of all, we need to separate what would be a “church” from a sects, cult, or false religion. Although really there is not much difference between them, I would consider a “church” that would identify itself with solid biblical doctrine something different from a cult. Some “Fundamental” or “Baptist” churches would officially hold to correct or biblical doctrine, but actually practice or secretly believe in unbiblical things. There may also be some groups that would do things as a biblical church would do them, but they hold tightly to some doctrine that is not biblical. Usually these groups always have some defective concept concerning salvation. So these characteristics are a composite of a whole bunch of bad and erroneous churches, sects, abusive churches, groups, etc.
The list of marks of a bad church (Marks of an Unbiblical Church) on this page therefore should be understand as a bad church can have this or that characteristic or mark, but it is defined as bad by any one, and not necessarily by all. Also let me add that some good churches are good on most things, and they may fall into one or more of these marks of a bad church. I do not pretend to know all churches, all situations, and how a person should act or the decision a person should take in such cases. I think soul searching your own heart in order to find what God wants you to do is most important in any situation, and it is essential in these cases. See my thoughts on Getting out of a Bad Church.
What is a biblical New Testament Church? There is a principle that says, you cannot hit a target if you don’t know what it is. Simply put, we as “church” cannot be “church” if we don’t have a firm concept of what “being the church” consists of. I read works by people who attack and are antagonistic to the traditional church (mostly negativism), and those who would transform it into something else.
Fixing a Ruined Church is an article and suggestions on how to fix a ruined, sick church by getting back to the basics of what a church is and should be.
I read an article named, 4 Starter Ideas for the Care and Treatment of an Unhealthy Church (a good article by the way), and in it, it mentions some tips on how to “treat” the patient of an unhealthy church. From that general idea I want to expand on some of my thoughts of that post.
