The Church, Organic or Organized? (part 2)

God has a mission for the church, but it was never meant to be adopted independently from him. We have, by our own self-will, taken over God's rightful place in the church. We have transformed God's mission for the church into our own personal ambition. We have turned the mission of the church into our own business venture. We have become dependent upon ourselves. We expect through advertisements, attractions and activities that we'll build up the church. We have turned God's gospel, his message of salvation, into our product. We are engaged in marketing our product so it will make a great profit. We have our product to sell and our profit to gain. Or at least that's the way we see it! And so, while the mission is still the same, we have claimed the gospel for ourselves, to be our product. We present and promote the message as if we're selling it, like we're seeking to make a profit. The profit, is the people who are saved. That's why we are so proud when people get saved; we think it's because of what we did. From within our proud hearts, we have assumed responsibility for the growth of the church. We see it now as our project, pursuit and purpose in life.