Why I Won't Start a Church...

When people hear my theology, my deep convictions on the truth as the bible says and my dogmatic stance on Scripture's inability to morph into what people "want" it to say, the first thing out of their mouth is generally something along the lines of, "Why don't you start your own church and preach what you want?"

Recently, after my grandfather's funeral, I was asked this by my family as well. At the funeral, I got up and said a few words to my family, some things that I had been meditating on since I found out about my grandfather's death the week before. I had said more in the short (3-4 min) moment than the "pastor" that did the 20-30min eulogy. My family couldn't remember what his sermon was about, what the point was and if it was ever made. Yet they all came up to me (those who are clearly not saved and "unchurched" to those that who hold doctorates in theology) saying that what I said was "beautiful," "a blessing," "made [them] proud," or "really spoke to [them]," just to name a few of the comment made. What I said was only the truth, I was not seeking approval, but trying to lighten the hearts of those hurting. (I was also prepared for the "pastor" to get up there and say absolutely nothing for 30min- he seriously could repeat [verbatim] Jesus' sermon on the Mount and make it ineffective- so I wanted the family to leave with SOMETHING to hold on to).

So the next day, the entire family was gathered at one of my uncle's house and I was pulled aside by a different uncle. It started off as just a conversation between him and I, with my grandmother sitting and listening but before long there were 7 people sitting there telling me what God had called me to do. I told them my concerns with "churches" and then they asked the ever repetitive question, "Why not start your own and preach what you know is right?"

Allow me to answer this question so I will never have to hear it again... or at least not from the same people....

The simple answer to the question is this- It cost too much and I can NOT afford the price of starting my own church. [Let's insert some dead space so you can ponder that......................................................................................................................................................................................................] I can hear it now, "You lack faith if you think that God cannot provide money to start a church." Hahaha... Silly American's thinking that everything can be bought with your cotton paper. The price I am talking about is far greater than that of a monetary value.

Let's examine the last successful church. Nope, not T.D. Jakes, not Joel Osteen, not Billy Graham, but Jesus the Christ. Yes. That was the last successful Church. The Church is His body and He is the head. There can only be one Church, only different gatherings (because of location not doctrine). Jesus paid for His Church with a perfect life, a brutal death, and experiencing the wrath for the sins of all those whom God the Father has called to be His own. Jesus' Church is spotless, blameless and without fault. Jesus' Church is not capitalist but socialist (look at Acts). Jesus' Church is not about recruiting people for the sake of getting numbers but instead about preaching the gospel for sending out a general call to look for the lost sheep. Then teaching those sheep that do come in. Jesus' Church is not about watering down the gospel to make it appealing to others. Jesus' Church is the only Church that is valid.

What about YOUR church?! Am I saying that your church is a false church and not of God? Yup. Intentionally, more than likely, no. There are very few people that endeavor to embark on a path of righteousness for selfish reasons. However, when you say that God is telling you to start a church, I find that extremely hard to believe. God started His own Church through His Son, whom He sent for that very purpose. Why would God tell you to do something that is direct contradiction with His written word and have you do something different than a different church who is saying to serve the same God? Does God really need to change His message, His appeal, His ways to make it more enticing to man? That sounds like selling the gospel with gimmicks and not preaching the truth. You show me WITH SCRIPTURE where God has a history of allowing the slight perversion of His truth just to entice men to believe in Him.

I am not CAPABLE of starting a Church. I currently hold many sins to my name and I am banking on the promise of Abraham to get me out of the "spiritual debt" that I accrued through the years. There is no way that I can afford for others to be my body when I am not a head to begin with.

I am prepared for this to be argued, for me to lose "friends" (both real and fb friends), for me to be ostracized and even hated. That is fine. It is the burden that comes with speaking the truth. I only ask that you sit back and think about what I said and try to argue it apart from your feelings and use only Scripture. If you can use Scripture only (in context), then you know that what you are saying is true.