Unfortunately, this tendency is not saved for just the Christians of Paul’s time. We see this all the time in the modern-day church. A friend of mine came to me the other day asking for advice. A fellow Christian at her work who attends a different church found out that she attended ACF and he proceeded to rant about every little thing he didn’t like about how we did church. My friend, who loves ACF, was hurt andoffended. She asked me how she should respond.  

My advice to my friend was this: “I am so very glad that he found a church that he loves. But thatdoesn’t mean we are in competition with them. There are so many different and wonderful expressions of worship that are biblically sound and glorifying to God. And I am so glad they do it differently than us.If God is getting the glory from tons of churches all through Eagle River, through Alaska, and through the world, why would I want anything else? Why would I want ACF to be the only place that is seeing the movement of the Spirit? Why would I want ACF to be the only place that pleases God? Sure, we do church the way we feel called to do it. But that by no means implies that we are the only church that is doing it right.”  

This surprised my friend and we talked about it for some time. I left the conversation saddened by all the competition that exists between churches. Sure, we may disagree on what it looks like to worship. Do you use a smoke machine or not? Drums or not? Is electric guitar too much, or just right? We maydisagree on what the order of service is, whether the congregation should stand or sit, whether we should take communion every week or once a month… So on and so forth. But in the end, we are letting trivial things separate us. We are allowing division in the body of Christ. 

I love how 1 Corinthians 12 describes us as all individual parts of the Body of Christ. We each have a unique role to play. The same is true for each church. ACF is appealing to a certain demographic who is interested in worshiping God in a certain way. We get that. We often say “we are a church for anyone, but not a church for everyone” meaning that our doors are open to anyone, but we are 100% comfortable with the fact that not everyone will want to worship the way we do. AND THAT’S OK! In that case, I pray earnestly that they go try other churches and find the right fit! I pray there is a church that meets their needs and ministers to them right where they are at!  

Because that’s how we are meant to serve! We are meant to work in a community of churches, serving God’s people in a variety of ways, never changing the message of the Gospel, but delivering it in whatever ways are needed.  

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 that he makes himself a Jew for the Jews and a Greek for the Greeks. Does he mean that he changes his heritage or that he is pretending or being fake? No. What he is saying is that he takes on the customs and traditions of each culture that he presents the gospel to. He brings the truth of the Gospel in a package that is most likely to be accepted.  

See Paul understood that people need to receive the Gospel in different ways that appeal to them. It’sthe same today. So, let’s stop arguing about what method is best to deliver the Gospel. And instead let’sstart focusing on working together as churches and believers to tear down any stumbling block that might bet between someone and the Good News. Let’s partner together to meet the needs of our city. And let’s stop fighting between us because it’s only serving the enemy’s purposes!