Dec 03
No matter how cutting-edge you want to be, there are certain defining principles found in the Bible that form the parameters of all discussion about the church (or anything, for that matter).
We discovered together that the Bible lays out the following principles that form the life of the church, and I list these in no particular order:
- Teachings of the Bible
- Fellowship
- Prayer
- Outreach and evangelism
- Discipleship
- Leadership
- Worship
Which of these do you think is the most foundational — the thing that ought to be discussed first — and why do you think so?
– Pastor Chris
Prayer.. it’s the first thing we should do in order to have God lead us. Prayer brings us together where we are all on the same page. We also have to open doors to see if God closes them and prayer lets us put our desires and troubles at the cross. Without prayer and others praying we’re not going to grow.
I think the first principle should be the teachings of the Bible. The reason is because I think we often assume that everyone is on the same basic page until we really start looking closely at what the Bible has to say to us particularly about the other items on the list. Understanding the many worldviews that are in a group is very important.
I think it is hard to pick just one thing as the most foundational. I have been looking at that list for quite a while now and I can present a good case for each one to be nominated as the most foundational. They are all extremely important to the Church and in our own personal lives. I ended up trying not to think how important these things are individually but how they work together. I looked at each one and how they effect the other ones. I came to the conclusion that prayer is involved in everything else. When we study the teaching of the Bible, we pray for understanding. When we fellowship at church we pray together. We pray for God to lead people into our lives so we can reach out to them and show God to them through us. We pray for good Godly leaders to rise up. We pray for disciples to follow those leaders and become leaders themselves. Last but not least, we can worship God through our prayers and praises. I don’t know if prayer is the most foundational, but it does seem to be the most central.