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Early Disenchantment with Organized Religion |
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 "From childhood I had this feeling that something was wrong with the churches. We just weren't reaching the vast majority of the people" |
David was in some ways a product of the
churches. Yet as he became more involved in preaching the Gospel, he grew increasingly
aware that many churches were not interested in fulfilling the Great Commission that
Christ had given His disciples, to "go into all the world and preach the Gospel to
every creature" (Mark 16:15). They were a
far cry from the Early Church of the New Testament. "I was reared in the church ... and some of my earliest memories were of church meetings. And yet from childhood I had this feeling that something was wrong with the churches. We just weren't reaching the vast majority of the people, the poor souls who were left outside of the churches! "We tried everything we could: ... famous preachers, big programs, musicals, movies, ... and all the typical Gospel entertainment business to try to bring the people into the church. The church with the biggest show and the biggest advertising got the biggest crowd. The trouble was that the people we were getting were mostly other Christians from other churches who simply came because we had the most entertainment. ... We were still not reaching the lost sheep! "Most of these ... worshippers in our churches didn't even faintly resemble the Early Christians! ... Most of the church members were a bunch of old hypocrites who weren't the slightest bit interested in getting the Gospel to the lost, but much more interested in getting a fancier church building ... and showing off fancy clothes at fancy meetings. Church membership had become a status symbol and a business necessity for the affluent society, a social club for the rich and well-to-do." [10] It was a dilemma that David would grapple with for several years. He longed to serve God, and yet the only place where it seemed he could do this was within a church system that he saw as largely inbred, self-satisfied and unwilling to engage in the task at hand. As he put it: "There was no place else to serve God but 'in church.' Where else was there? What else could a young Christian do to serve the Lord but go to church or to Bible School and become a church minister, pastor, evangelist, or missionary?" [11] |