Pressing The Reset Button on the Way We Do Church

When something is not working, as we know it should, then we all know what to do to solve the problem. We must turn to the manufacturer’s manual. The manufacturer is aware that the customer may experience a malfunction of the item, requiring assistance and guidance on how to fix any problem and get the item working to its full potential once again.

At the back of most manufacturers’ manuals there is a section giving instructions on how to resolve the most common malfunctions, followed by a statement for when you have tried everything they suggest to fix the problem and yet the item still malfunctions. The statement reads something like “Reset To Manufacturer’s Original Settings.” Following these instructions will wipe away any settings you have altered over the months or years you have owned and used the item, and return it to the settings programmed into the item when you first purchased it. Resetting the item to its original settings usually means the item begins to work as originally designed by the manufacturer, and you, the customer, are once again happy to see it operating at its full potential. Nothing is worse than paying a high price for something that is not doing what the manufacturer promised it would do.

I feel Church is often like this for so many of us. We came to Christ, ‘joining up’ to co-work with Him in His Mission of taking the message of God’s love, forgiveness, reconciliation and salvation to everyone in every part of this world. We all heard the messages, read the Bible, were stirred by the testimonies of others and expected that we would see the power of the Spirit happening all around us, as it was with Jesus, the apostles Peter and Paul, with Smith Wigglesworth, Kathryn Kuhlman and so many other great men and women of God. Sadly, this has not been the experience for so many.

Two thousand years of Church history reveal that there have been moments since those early days, that a revival and outpouring of God’s power has occurred somewhere in the earth. They were so powerful that hundreds of books were written about the occasions, or about the main leaders of those moves of God. Each book was written to inspire or challenge us to rise up to believe for yet another occasion where God’s Word and Spirit would move across the region, or world, with such great effectiveness, signs and wonders, bringing multitudes into the glorious freedom and liberty from sin that is available through Jesus Christ.

Going In Circles

History records the Church goes in circles, with each fresh revival of God breaking us free from religious mindsets and theology that has entrapped the Church, for sometimes hundreds of years. Each move of God brought a fresh wind of the Spirit, the people became ‘on fire,’ once again passionate about the Lord, His Word, His presence and sharing their faith with those who never knew Him.

Breaking The Cycle Forever

The people of each new move throw off the ‘clothing’ or ‘style’ of the ‘traditional’ Church, that they have left, and start new churches, new ministries, with new styles believing they are being radical in doing so. But just a generation or so later, it seems they begin to be just like the ‘old’ Church they came out of. They have gone in a circle. So often, they have returned to doing Church no differently than done for centuries, just with new dress codes, slightly different styles of buildings, using different musical instruments. The question we need to ask is why? Why do we have this same pattern occurring throughout our history? Well, I hope to share with you how to break this cycle forever and allow us to see His Church fulfil its true potential.

Reformation For Realignment

It seems that the common denominator of each move of God, is that it realigns the Church back to the truth of God’s Word. Each move of God restores something that had been ‘lost’ to the Church over the centuries.

One such occasion was the reformation of Martin Luther (1517). The global Church had drifted far from the truth of Jesus’ teaching and was operating and preaching as if we were all still under the Old Covenant Law. The Church had become brutal to sinners, viciously punishing those who erred, when the very basis of the gospel of Jesus is love, mercy, forgiveness and kindness and a salvation purely through faith in Jesus Christ, not by the rules, regulations and rituals of the Old Testament Law or Church system. Our brothers and sisters were torched to death, beheaded and brutally maimed, by those calling themselves the Church of Jesus. The Church of the day was TOTALLY out of alignment with Jesus’ teachings and New Testament truth. So the Lord raised up a series of leaders to realign His Church back to the New Testament model laid down by Christ and His apostles.

One such occasion was when a young priest called Martin Luther, preached that we are ‘saved by grace and not our own works,’ which was a total contradiction to the normal dogma of the Church in his time. He was called a heretic and persecuted by the very church he was part of. He was thrown out of the Catholic Church and therefore began holding meetings, which developed into a collection of new Churches, led by priests who had been convinced by this new teaching he was bringing to everyone.

Thousands of ordinary people flocked to these new churches with the ‘new’ message of grace. The reformation spread rapidly across Europe, fuelled by others also breaking ranks with the normal Church of the day. One such person was William Tyndale, who violated the rule of the Catholic Church, by translating the New Testament into English, in order for it to be read by the ‘common man.’ The Pope, and the Catholic Church held the strong view that the Word of God was only to be read and studied by priests who they had trained.

This new ‘re-formed’ Church, had received revelation that demanded a response to change the Church. It did. It changed its theology. But sadly, it did not change the deeper revelation of the purpose of the Church and her mission. It was not long before this new reformed Church of Martin Luther, had it’s own buildings, with services just like the Church they broke away from. They still operated with the separation of priests and laity, the priests still wearing clothing that identified them as different to the congregations. They still sang hymns, took offerings on a plate and still only one person leading and preaching the Word. This new reformation which initially offered so much hope of seeing “His Kingdom come,” ended up becoming a denominational organisation. In fact, not much had changed in the way Church operated.
Today, as I write this book, it is 500 years since that reformation. Where is it now? That fire and passion to continue the work of reforming Church, has all but gone out within her.

Sadly, we see this same truth and occurrence with all former reformations. Simply look at the breakaways of the Brethren, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal movements and see the churches, denominations and ‘streams,’ once radical in their ways, now seemingly not much different from the Church they broke away from. Why?

Changing the message to be more in alignment with the truth of the New Testament is wonderful and so necessary. Changing the way we present the gospel, or do Church services to be more relevant to the culture we are trying to influence, is also wonderful.

Reformation Is Not For The Faint-Hearted

We have all the beautiful buildings, wonderfully organised meetings and Church systems, the latest technology, lavish advertising, music teams, conferences, guest speakers, gifts of free turkeys for Thanksgiving or Christmas and yet, we still do not reach or effect the world around us to the measure we read in the Bible, and what we know in our spirit is possible.

So why do we keep doing Church the same way it has been done for a thousand years or more, expecting a different result? The model is malfunctioning. It will not reach the whole world, which is the co-mission of Jesus. It is time the Church was brave enough to press the ‘Reset To Manufacturer’s Original Settings’ button. Yes, it will mean a wiping away of a lot of things that have become our mindset, tradition and culture. But who do you wish to please? The God of the Church, or the Church of God?

But if we do not change the mindset of why the Church exists and it’s true purpose, then this new ‘radical’ church, with it’s radical presentation, will simply grow old, becoming, in essence, virtually no different to the Church expression they came out of.

Reformation is not for the faint-hearted, but for those whose hearts burn within, to see the return of Heaven on Earth, in every nation in this and every generation.

It really is time we accepted that doing Church in the way it is normally done, will never achieve the mandate of Jesus, which is to ‘disciple the nations.’ (Matt 28:19). It is time to press the ‘reset’ button.

(Want to discover more about this teaching? Then go to our store page and order a copy of ‘Achieving Heaven’s Vision For Your Life.’)