To The Church Outside The Camp By Alan Richardson

EXCERPT 

The concept of "church" has become a model so deeply embedded in our thinking processes that we are unable to comprehend God outside of it. And whenever we seek to discover God's purposes on earth, we interpret them through this model we have become stuck with. It's an industry spending billions of dollars upon itself. At its worst divisive, controlling, legalistic and self-perpetuating. It is often said that most of our churches could carry right on if God's presence was withdrawn. And yet God has often come with His manifest presence to draw us out of the comfort of our institutions to Himself in a new and dynamic way. Such visitations have often been fiercely opposed by the institutions of the day. For a while, they have burned brightly, and even brought fresh revelation to the wider Body. But the irony is that every revival in history ended up right back where it began. In church. In another denomination. In another division. You see, it doesn't matter how radical our measure of revelation, how new our "new thing," how strong our call for reformation or revival, the model within us is still "church." And church remains the direction and focus of our ultimate goals. If you started a totally new thing, preaching completely clear revelation to a bunch of people. . . what would be their model? I'm not questioning the accuracy of the revelation, or the reality of the vision. I'm asking what the model is. Because the model you demonstrate is eventually what you will produce. And if that's no different, you will simply have gone once more round the mountain.

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