Preacher are you keeping the flock on a leash?

It is time to UNLEASH the CHURCH!

What is happening in the institutionalized churches across the land?

Far to often the local church is a source of discouragement and disillusionment for scores of people. Many people go to church and leave feeling worse than they did before they went. Young people are falling to the wayside with no interest in the things of God. Is this because the local church boxes them in, isn't it inhibiting their creativity, does it place to many role expectations on them, expecting them to oil the machine and make the programs move? If our young people do not experience a manifestation of the power of God we are going to loose them.

It is regrettable that so few churches have broken out of their traditions, bondage and captivity. It is sad that all the ministry that takes place must take place only from the man behind the sacred desk. It is unfortunate that so much ministry potential in the local church has gone unrealized.

Many people in the churches have tremendous ministry potential, but they are often fustrated with church programs that stink of man's origin, born in some man's mind rather than in the heart of God. Listen church programs provide no outlet for the believers potential, they stifle it. The church structure prevents people from developing the ministry that God has given them, thus they are unable to get involved in meaningful ministry. Oh you can get involved in the organization of the church, but you have to stick to their mold.

The hierarchy of denominations have created tremendous ministry problems in the local church by boxing in the lay people. If we are going to break out of the bondage's that are in the churches we are going to have to get back to early church practices and unleash the body, who by the way are suppose to do the work of the ministry. The man behind the pulpit has got to realize that God depends upon body ministry to accomplish His will on this earth. The holy Spirit ought to be the leader not man.

If you were to say to the average Christian, leader. "look there is a apartment complex, let's have a ministry there, they would have no idea what you meant. Because he thinks of ministry as some form of church work. And church work happens inside of a church building, therefore anything that happens should happen inside the four walls of the church. So the church person needs a Sunday school class to teach, a choir to sing in, a committee to serve on, a crusader class, He is to ministry-crippled to see beyond these typical activities. I don't mean to say that these activities are wrong but they are not enough if we are going to fulfill the Great Commission completely. And if God has not put it in your heart to do what you are doing in ministry then you are causing more harm than good.

The approach to ministry in most churches do not conform to the N. T. pattern, this has made our churches ministry deficient. The church ought to be the visible manifestation of the body of Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit to be God's witnesses and to be the salt and light of the world, producing the proof that Jesus is who he says He is, the all powerful Son of the Living God, resurrected from the dead and doing the same works that He did when He walked the earth as a man. Far to often the denominational church is just a bless me club, in a lot of cases it is just a social club where people come to meet. We have abrogated our responsibility to a needy world and have turned our focus inward ministering only to ourselves. You catch the vision of Jesus in most of our churches and become on fire for God you will be the odd ball and the good church members will call you crazy. Preachers need to realize that it is not a matter of their position as a pastor and their superiority but it is a matter of the diversity of the body working together.

If we Christians are going to get serious about the Great Commission we have to reached the unchurched. If we do not allow the Holy Spirit to manifest the power of God in our mists we will loose the people we have much less the unchurched. In most cases, church people are satisfied with the spiritual status quo, we need to realize that the status quo is never good enough there are always new spiritual plateaus that can be attained in God. Change has got to happen in the church if we are going to effective in tearing down the strongholds of Satan and build the kingdom of God.

The fortress church does not accept the principal of diversity. It offers a limited number of programs that they call ministry. If a lay person dosen't fit into the narrow range of these half a dozen or so ministries, he or she has nothing to do in the church, especially if the ministry that God has laid on their heart is going to cost a few measly dollars of the hundreds of thousands that it has hoarded up. By the way, if Christ may come tonight as is taught in most western churches, why are they hoarding up thousands and thousands of dollars, or spending thousands of dollars on themselves? Who is going to get their money if Christ came tonight, the Antichrist? It is time to invest into the kingdom of God!

The church needs to come into a state of obedience to Jesus Christ not to some denominational creed. I mean in most churches there is no such thing as the five fold ministry in operation, in a lot of churches all that operates is carnal pastors and they are killing the church by nullifying the work of God .

Weather or not the preacher realizes it he needs every member of the body in tune with God so they can hear from God to minister to the different needs in the body. We have to unleash the believer because leashed believers will never conquer their community for Christ. We have believers boxed in, giving them an inferiority complex, we have them so constricted by church busywork, or we have persuaded them that they are primarily spectators. Only those who have degrees from denominational cemeteries, (oh, oh, seminaries) are able to hear from God. For everyone else, "be sure to be in your place when the meeting starts, and we will tell you when to stand, when to sit, when to raise your hand, and when to say amen. We will tell you if you are allowed to share what God has laid on your heart or not."

Listen unleashed believers, who are involved in the ministry that God has given them during the week, will return to church meetings from their ministries alive and on fire with N. T. power, with a psalm, a exhortation, a hymn and a word from the Lord for the body and God will demonstrate His power through them meeting the needs of the body and lost humanity.

Preacher, the work of the Church is outside the establishment. Outside the Church. The work of the Church is in the world! And it takes every member of the Church to do it! Nowhere in the Bible is the world exhorted "to come to Church" But the Church's mandate is clear: she must go to the world. The only way it will go into all the world is if leaders will do what they are called to do, that is to equip the body to do the work of the ministry.