Is Christianity more like golf or football?
Someone might say, “Golf because Christianity is like walking through life and it helps you deal with one problem after another until finally you arrive at that great club house in the sky.” But I think Christianity is more like football (don’t overanalyze my metaphor too much here). I think Christianity is like football because success—as a football team—requires great teamwork. Golf is an individual’s sport. It’s just you against the world. A golfer can be successful without depending on anyone else. But no football player can have success by himself. For a football player to be successful, he has to be part of a dedicated team of guys who know what success is and are willing to do their job to help get the team across the goal line.
For a Christian to be “successful” (for lack of a better word), he or she has to be part of a dedicated fellowship of believers. Those who know what success is and are willing to do their job to help get the church across the goal line. Success for a church is maturity. A healthy church is a church that is growing in maturity. Not necessarily growing in numbers, but growing up. This is why most of the New Testament books were written to churches—calling the church to maturity in Christ.
But what does maturity look like? How do we get there? How do we stay there? How do we help others get there? Let me start with a little history. Our history.
If you’re a member of Community Bible Church, you’re part of what is often referred to as the “modern day Bible Church movement”. Early in the 20th century, most Christians were part of a mainline denomination. But a great division was taking place at that time between the liberals and the fundamentalists. If I may say it this simply, the liberals were those who didn’t believe the Bible. The fundamentalists were those who did. The fundamentalists believed in a literal or plain interpretation of the Bible. They believed every word of it was true and valuable. The liberals wanted to throw out the parts they didn’t like. During that time Bible conferences and Bible institutes—such as BIOLA (Bible Institute of Los Angeles) sprang up as fundamentalists began leaving the mainline denominations. This is probably an oversimplification of things, but this is basically where Bible churches were born. Of course, all Biblical churches were born at Pentecost in the first century. But I’m referring to the modern Bible Church movement. The primary motivation behind this movement was proclamation—a focus on declaring the Biblical message.
Our church—Community Bible Church—in a very real way was born out of that movement. But there’s more to the story. Something significant happened at Dallas Theological Seminary in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Gene Getz was a professor at Dallas Seminary at that time and describes what happened in the introduction of his book, Building Up One Another:
“Several years ago, I made a wonderful discovery. It happened when I was a full-time professor interacting with my students at Dallas Theological Seminary about God’s plan for the church. Their questions were penetrating and challenging! What is a healthy church? What does God expect from all believers? What makes a church a dynamic witness in the world?
All of these questions motivated me to investigate more deeply what is recorded in the letters written to the various New Testament churches. As I pursued this journey through the New Testament epistles, one major concept kept jumping off the pages of Scripture. Again and again I noticed exhortations regarding what believers are to do for one another. Paul, particularly, used the Greek word allelon nearly forty times to instruct Christians regarding their mutual responsibilities to their fellow believers…
More than I realized, my initial discovery of these ‘one another’ exhortations was destined to impact my life dramatically for years to come—and the lives of many others. First, it became a key in unlocking the process Paul described in his Letter to the Ephesians. This great first-century church planter made it crystal clear that the ‘body of Christ’ will never become a growing and dynamic community reflecting Christ’s love unless ‘each part does its work.’ God’s plan is that ‘the whole body’ is to be ‘joined and held together by every supporting ligament’ (Ephesians 4:16). Total body function is absolutely essential if a local church is to become all God intended it to be!
During my initial interaction with my students at the seminary, several of them challenged me to start a church and to apply these ‘one another’ injunctions at the grassroots level. At first, I was hesitant. After all, I had been a professor for nearly twenty years. But, I took this challenge seriously and helped several families start the first Fellowship Bible Church in Dallas. I served as pastor. Attendance exploded and I knew rather quickly I’d have to make a vocational decision. After a lot of reflection and prayer, I decided to give up my full-time professorship and become a full-time church planting pastor.
Since starting the first Fellowship Bible Church in 1972, it has multiplied into over a dozen churches in the Dallas metroplex and several hundred throughout the United States and even into foreign countries—such as Fellowship Bible Church in Warsaw, Poland…
During these years of church planting experience, I’ve discovered that no emphasis is more important than to teach Christians what the Bible says about these ‘one another’ injunctions.” (Building Up One Another by Gene Getz, Victor Books: 2002; pgs.7-9)
Dr. Getz simply detected a shortcoming of the Bible Church movement. Those churches had been established to proclaim the Biblical message at a time when that was desperately needed. But the shortcoming for most of these Bible churches was a lack of emphasis on fellowship—true, Biblical “body life.”
At the same time out in California, Ray Stedman, another Dallas Seminary graduate and pastor of Peninsula Bible Church, was exploring a similar emphasis in that congregation. He published a book in the early 1970’s called Body Life. God used both these men and their books to influence many pastors. Many churches were planted as a result—including Community Bible Church of Lawrence, Kansas.
This is your history—and mine. I think this history is very important because my hope and prayer for CBC is that we would hang onto our roots. That we would strike that healthy balance by boldly and accurately declaring the Biblical message while we diligently pursue Biblical fellowship. That’s a healthy church. Those are our roots.
Are we doing pretty well? Yes, we are. Can we do better? Yes we can. So, let me remind you that you cannot obey the one-another commands alone—therefore, you cannot obey much of the New Testament if you’re not plugged in to a local body of believers. You can win at golf all by yourself. But you can’t win a football game by yourself. And you cannot “win” at Christianity by yourself. There’s no such thing as a Lone Ranger Christian. Christianity cannot be lived out in isolation.
Do you know what else? I don’t want to try. The kind of Christianity where we all see each other only on Sundays. The kind of Christianity where we say little more than, “Nice day, isn’t it? Not as hot as it was last week.” The kind of Christianity where we sing a half-dozen songs and sit and listen to a sermon together then part ways ’til next Sunday—is not the kind of Christianity I’m looking for. I don’t know about you, but I want a family. I want to be part of a healthy body that is functioning as it should. I want true fellowship. Let’s not settle for anything less.
