The ugly disfigurement of the established church, its "spots" and "wrinkles," repulses the younger generation. They are so disturbed and disappointed by it that they reject this embarrassing reality and replace it with new forms, after having vaguely justified their abandonment. The result is now a marked decline in community involvement in favor of a subjective emphasis on private experience and an enthusiastic participation in group activities outside the organized churches.
We desperately need a renewed understanding of the biblical doctrine of the church; I am convinced that if it is lived out in our daily activities as members of a Christian body, it can and will give us a new awareness of the motives and purposes of the Christian life. The church is not a third-class waiting room where we twiddle our thumbs while waiting for first-class accommodations in heaven. It is a vibrant, attractive, and compelling new community with eternal significance in God’s design.
God thought the Church, Christ gave himself for the Church. The Spirit builds the Church by incorporating us into it. I hope that this book will arouse our interest and dispose us to give our lives for the edification of the Church of God.
Michael Griffiths
ISBN: 9782853310307