What About the Church? Stories and Illustrations

One morning a deacon was asked to go to the airport and meet the preacher who was coming to his church to conduct a revival. He went but was not sure as to what the preacher looked like. He carefully examined the passengers as they exited the plan. He was anxious to pick up the man he was to entertain but whom he had never met. Selecting a likely fellow, he asked, “Pardon me, sir, but are you a minister?” “No, sir!” came the reply. “My indigestion makes me look like this.”

I heard a man say: I was standing in the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge, admiring the view, when another tourist walked up alongside of me to do the same. I heard him say quietly as he took in the beauty of the view, when another tourist walked up alongside of me to do the same. I heard him say quietly as he took in the beauty of the view: What an aesome God. I turned to him and said 'Are you a Christian?" He said, "Yes, I"m a Christian." I said, "So am I" and we shook hands. I said, "Are you a liberal or fundamental Christian?" He said, 'I'm a fundamental Christian." I said "So am I" and we smiled and nodded to each other. I said, "Are you a Covenant or Dispensational Fundamental Christian?" He said, "I am a dispensational fundamental Christian." I said, "So am I" and we slapped one another on the back. I said "Are you an early Acts, mid Acts or late Acts Dispensational Fundamental Christian?" He said, "I'm a mid Acts Dispensational Fundamental Christian." I said "So am I" and we agreed to exchange Christmas cards each year. I said, "Are you an Acts 9 or 13 mid Acts Dispensational Fundamental Christian?" He said, I"m an Acts 9 mid Acts Dispensational Fundamental Christian." I said, "So am I!" And we hugged one another right there on the bridge. I said, "Are you a pre-Trib or post- Trib Acts 9 mid Acts Dispensational Fundamental Christian?" He said, "I'm a pre-Tri Acts 9 mid Acts Dispensational Fundamental Christian." I said, "So am I" and we agreed to exchange our kids for the summer. I said, "Are you a 12 in or 12 out pre-Trib Acts 9 mid Acts Dispensational Fundamental Christian?" He said "I'm a 12 in pre-Trib Acts 9 mid Acts Dispensational Fundamental Christian." I said, "You're a heretic" and I pushed him off the bridge.

Church is a loaded word. Somebody once said to me: I wish we could do away with the word "church." It has become so mixed in its meanings - buildings, institutions, a guilty history, a wimpish image. Perhaps we need to start again.

I heard about one young man who found that his enthusiasm for the Lord had kind of been drained from him. He went to see a wiser and older man and he explained to him that he'd just lost his love for the Lord. They were sitting in front of a fire and this man went to the fire, and took a coal that was glowing red-hot out of the fire and he put it outside the fireplace. And within a few minutes, the coal had gone black. And then, without saying anything, he picked up the coal again and put it back in the fire and within a few minutes it was glowing red-hot. He didn't say a single word, but as that young man left the house he knew exactly why he lost enthusiasm.

Jackie Pullinger, a woman who went to Hong Kong and worked amongst the drug addicts tells a story about a 72 year old woman. This woman had been a prostitute almost all of her life - for about 60 years - since she was a child. At the age of 72 she was too old to work as a prostitute, but she used to sit outside the brothel in the Walled City - the place of utter degradation. Her job was the keep the sewers moving and she had a stick which she used to do so. Also, she was a heroin addict. She'd injected herself all over her arms and her legs - the only place left for her to inject was her back. She was desperate for help and Jackie came and showed Christ's love to this lady. Jackie had the opportunity to lead her to Christ and her life began to change. She came to live in one of Jackie's first stage houses and then she moved into community. To begin with, because she was so hurt, she was quite difficult. But as time went on, as she lived within the Christian community, her life began to change and she began to find healing. In fact, there came a point where she met a 75 year old man named Little Wa whom she ended up marrying. Jackie said it was "the wedding of the century!" Here was this person whose life in the past had not been all that it might have been - but she walked down the aisle dressed in white, cleansed, forgiven and made new by Jesus Christ.