A church should never …
- own property
- employ anyone for anything
- belong to an organization with employees
- have membership rolls
- withdraw from the world
- have a political point of view
- expect people to give ten percent of their income
- divide into age groupings
- celebrate civil holidays
- think it is a better church than any other church
- forget it is about Jesus
Perhaps individuals may indulge in some of these behaviors, but the church must never.
Discuss amongst yourselves.
After teaching at Caesarea Philippi, Stanley Porter discusses the importance of the place:
I think that Jesus may well have chosen Caesarea Philippi because it was a centre of important pagan and especially Roman worship. I can imagine Jesus consciously choosing this time and place to elicit this important acknowledgment of who he is and to institute the church. The timing in his ministry is right, and the place is ideal.
via We Walked Today Where Jesus Walked | Stanley E. Porter