A recent compliment was paid to Palm Beach Lakes that was especially encouraging. This is not written to build us up or to point any fingers at our accomplishment(s), but it is to draw attention to what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. A visitor, who visits here a couple times a year, said: “PBL truly feels like the first-century church when we visit…so diverse yet so united.” So many “churches” today (i.e., denominations) place great emphasis on being a “modern, contemporary, 21st-century community.” While there is nothing inherently wrong with, in some ways, being “modern” or “contemporary” or in the “21st-century,” what is the purpose for what we’re doing? What is the foundation for what we’re doing? What is our standard?
Jesus established His church in the first-century. It had His commands. It had His unique nature. It had His flavor. It had His direction. It had His blessing. When somebody “went to church” in the first century, there was something definitively unique about the experience! If your church is not like the first-century church, what should you do?