Christians in a Secular World continued....
THE CHURCH'S SPIRITUAL MINISTRY
In recent years evangelical Christians have been rethinking
their attitude to social issues. The twentieth century with its two world wars
and its revolutions in industry economics medicine and technology etc have
disturbed the cloistered calm that may have settled upon the Churches. What
then should their response be and what action should be taken?
There are still those who believe that it should be solely
concerned with spirituality. The world is wicked and governments are little
more than puppets of Satan so why bother with so-called social issues? Such
attitudes drive them into an isolationist position doing nothing more than
praying and preaching the Gospel to call the nation to repent, which is the
only message God has for the nations. They would also shun politics and even
refuse to vote in the elections.
There is an incident mentioned in Scripture that took place
in the early days of the Church. The leaders were confronted with a local social issue
concerning the distribution of food to widows. Apparently the Greek ladies did
not feel they were being looked after as well as the Hebrew ladies, so the
matter was resolved by the inauguration of an Order of Deacons. These men were
specially deputed to regularise things. This left the senior Church officials
(the Apostles) with the opportunity to concentrate on the essential work of
prayer and the ministry of God's word which is the Church's priority.
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