The Greek word in the New Testament that we translate as “church” means “the assembly,” or “those who are called out.” We have been called out of our old lives to new life in Christ, called out of the world into God’s Kingdom, and called out of ordinary lives into extraordinary lives. As the Holy Spirit guides us, we will do even greater things than Jesus did.
It seems like there's a new scandal in the American church every week. We tend to dismiss them as anomalies... good leaders who blew it. What if these moral failures, which seem to be more common than we'd like to admit, are actually baked-in results of the recipes we're using to grow churches, rather than growing God's Kingdom?
