In principle I agree. However, there are a couple of provisos, a few quid pro quos.
The idea that "we can accomplish so much more as a group than we can individually" has merit, but the tendency is to do nothing that doesn't involve more than two people... or have the approval of the whole group. So instead of (let's use the example of my trying to reach people with the message of the church) sitting with my co-worker over coffee and really listening to her, opening my heart to her and praying for her, I invite her to church where (I reason) she'll get "all of that." Well ... in many cases she won't. She won't even come. She won't come because I didn't show her that she mattered to me.
Hello!
The early church had sort of the same problem. Jesus had told them that they would be His witnesses, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth.
They had Jerusalem nailed. But that's (with rare exceptions) as far as it went.
As an aside to this, even within Jerusalem they couldn't just put a sign on the front lawn and invite people to come to church, take an ad out in the local marketplace paper or whatever - stand on a street corner. The church was for believers. Believers ONLY. The conversions weren't happening inside the body but OUTSIDE, where people rubbed shoulders with their co-workers, relatives, and friends. Hm.
But I digress. The church in Jerusalem was starting to turn into a megachurch. Thousands of members all meeting in each others' homes - in cell groups of course, to avoid detection by the authorities. They developed the beginnings of a church governmental structure. Discussions were about who was allowed to be a member and who wasn't (Jews versus non-Jews. Remember - Christianity was originally a Jewish sect!!) - what the non-Jews were required to do and not do in respect to the observance of the Torah. Spirits were high; miracles were common - and people started to get comfortable. There was "safety in numbers" and with an increase in numbers comes a certain feeling of entitlement.
Enter persecution. James the brother of Jesus - beheaded. Stephen stoned to death. Saul of Tarsus making it his personal mission to see as many people recant this new sect as possible - dragging them before the magistrates, separating families, being complicit in their deaths - not just him doing this, but the Romans who were in Jerusalem too, under orders from the same lecherous Herod who had John the Baptist AND James beheaded.
And then a funny thing happened. The church splintered. It wasn't a church split like so many we hear about today where a group gets all huffy over some innocuous thing - and walks out. No - people had to move away from home to get away from the heat and protect their families from the authorities.
For the purposes that Jesus had intended, it was the best thing that could have happened to them because ... they took their faith with them. It was such a part of them that it oozed out of them as they went about their daily routines. Neighbors, friends started to come to believe in Jesus - why? because the cell groups formed a committee, did a program to feed the hungry and organized evangelistic crusades? No - because they cared for each other, and they cared about people with whom they interacted every day. Their LIVES spoke for them, and people were hungry to have that kind of life. People wanted to HAVE what these Christians HAD... because they definitely HAD something!!
Which brings me to my point. Yes, I have to give. But I have to HAVE to give. If my faith is not making a difference in my life in a real way, if it's not motivating me to be grateful to God and to seek His will in my own decisions regarding my own stuff, then nobody's going to see that I HAVE anything they want.
The (western evangelical) church is often too quick to push people into service. Get'em "saved", shove'em into ministry right away. Keep'em busy. Tell'em they SHOULD live right, SHOULD walk with God, SHOULD pray, SHOULD tell the world, SHOULD feed the hungry, SHOULD .... fill in the blank.
What about learning how to live, how to walk with God? how to pray? how to give God what belongs to Him (and not just money)? That's how I can have something that's worthwhile to give away - because it's true: "you can't give away what you don't have." One reason for that is that nobody will want it. It's like someone with cavities ... advertising toothpaste! (Switch brands? are you kidding me?)
Then when I learn to do all those things in my relationship with God, it will automatically overflow into all my daily decisions. Including the ones I make surrounding who I hang out with. And I'm sorry folks, but although the accepted interpretation of "come out from among them and be separate" is that I am more "safe" hanging around with church people, that's not my interpretation at all - and definitely not my experience. I prefer being around people who KNOW they're broken, who KNOW they can't live the way that God intended without help and who don't sugar-coat it. I've learned a LITTLE bit about how to live, how to walk with God, how to pray and so forth (something I'm afraid I had to go outside the church to learn, but that's another bunny trail) and so I want to be with people who are honest enough to admit that they (like me) don't know it all. But we're willing to learn.
And as I learn HOW to live life, I find that I have [something] to give. So I do, not because I HAF-TO but because I HAVE [life] to give ... in whatever moment God brings me to.
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