Every so often lately I get in a conversation with someone who is convinced that God is going to move in a powerful way to transform what most people call church. Somehow, I just can’t wrap my brain around that idea. I don’t think religious organizations will ever be changed, because God changes people rather than man-made institutions. Why would he change something he never sanctioned?
Some may point out the way God has moved in this or that “church.” Did he move in the building or in the hearts of a people who were hungry for him? And in every occasion I know of where “new wine” has been poured out on people who continue to return over and over to the building in which they feel they encountered God, the newness dissipates while things gradually return to “normal.” Some wineskins just refuse to burst even though they are unable to contain the new wine.
I think he’s already transforming his church by delivering her from religious bondage and false concepts about himself. Many of those he is transforming have left man’s version of church and are learning how to be the church outside of the four walls. Some are remaining in the IC for the sake of maintaining genuine relationships, or because their spouse is not ready to leave. But whether in or out, they are responding to God’s call to come out of the Babylon of religion and into the freedom of his love and grace.
David
