Disagreement in the Church

Journal Prompt: In many eras and locations, disagreements in the church cause both division and movements of reform. In his High-Priestly prayer (John 17), Jesus prayed “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” With prayerful self-examination, reflect on and discuss areas of needed change in the Church today. Pray for God to bring renewal within His Church.

This prompt doesn't mince words by any means! Areas of needed change in the Church... I guess I would have to say that a major change that needs to take place in the modern American Church is the call to the American mission field. So often when we think of missionaries, we think of those in places like Africa, South America, and Asia. We think of people crossing over deserts, chopping through jungles, spreading the word of God with nothing but the clothes on their backs... Except I have a mission field of my own, right here in the United States, in my town, in my community, in my neighborhood. So often, the relationship between Christian and Church is a refueling station; the individuals goes to church to recharge, and leaves unwilling to disperse that energy into the lives of others.

This unusual non-dispersal of energy can be seen in the numbers of the church. The Church of the Nazarene currently stands at over 2 Million members, and 663,375 live in the USA or Canada. Those are tremendous numbers; Only the Africa region's 511,373 members comes even close to that. The problem is that USA/Canada's numbers haven't changed much in the last 10 years. In 2000, the church boasted 648,763 from USA/Canada, while Africa had 216,967 members. USA/Canada gains 15,000 members in 10 years while Africa adds 300,000 members in the same amount of time. Africa is a booming mission field, but America is a potential booming mission field as well, and it is important for us to be the Missionaries in "Jerusalem and Judea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth." If people in the Church began to treat right where they are at as a mission field, then we might start to see the kind of revival that would put this country back on the right track.