Every church and/or organization has a corporate culture with norms, rules, and expectations that pressure participants to conform. Some cultures are good and some bad. That being said, there are particular attributes that characterize false religions or become the norm during religious decline in a true faith such as Christianity.
Text: Acts 8:1-8
Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him [Stephen] to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison. Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.
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In 1999 the Spirit of God began to emphasize to me the recognition of the marketplace as part of the Kingdom of God, and since then many began to recognize the biblical mandate to disciple whole nations according to the dominion mandate of Genesis 1:28 and Matthew 28:19.
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The following points are ten things pastors wish their congregations understood about them:
I. Pastors wish the congregation understood that their work involves far more than just Sunday preaching
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During the days of Nazi Germany there arose a Confessing Church movement that rose against the German Church movement, which became the religious arm of the Fascist Nazi Socialist movement. Of the 18,000 pastors in Germany during that time (from 1933 to 1945) less than 5,000 were aligned with the Confessing Church. Hence, only a remnant held fast to the biblical position with about half of the churches conforming due to political and societal pressure. Unfortunately, this demonstrates that when push comes to shove, a large percentage of pastors, churches, and so-called Christians will probably bow to pressure and allow the norms of culture to become their credo for Christianity.
In my over 25 years of overseeing a church and ministering to senior leaders, I have seen countless pastors (including myself) become frustrated because those in their congregations either do not catch or follow the vision of the church, or the vision they are preaching does not seem to make much of a difference.
