The modern church erroneously views itself as a need-meeting institution rather than what it was charged by Jesus to be: a mission-focused institution. When the church is the need-meeter people become dependent on it rather than on God. When the church is the mission-center people become work/mission minded and not dependent. We recycle an attitude of dependency in the church by casting it as a need-meeting savior rather than a mission-centered warrior.
The church is not God, it’s God’s army!
If the main purpose of the church was to meet needs Jesus would have created a social service agency, not a church. He would have sent his apostles to do needs assessments, not heal the sick, cleanse the leper, & raise the dead. He would have focused his energy on gathering wealth to redistribute, not scattering the word of God like seed to the wind. The bible says Jesus went forth teaching & preaching, not blessing the needy. In fact, not once do we see Jesus doing a money miracle. All his miracles were about healing the body, soul, spirit, & mind. The church meets temporal needs as an addendum to prosecuting its mission in the world to loot hell & restore humanity to edenic power & purpose.
