And no wonder, since Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
2 Corinthians 11:14
In giving children a choice between eating a healthy meal or filling up on deserts and candy... well, we all pretty much know how that’d turn out. The challenge with parachurch organizations is that while they might have the best intentions, many actually detract from Christ’s Body & Bride. They’re like a dessert buffet Christians tend to fill up by pouring vast amounts of time, energy, effort, and money into. Sure, they might cause us to feel AMAZING for a while, but as with a staple diet based primarily on desserts, the long-term results are disastrous. Just like with kids filling up on junk food, there's no room left for the truly good stuff that promotes healthy growth and development.
Sadly, the history of the Church has some glaring issues. What we cannot do is mistake the biblical vision of Christ's Church for what corrupt, greedy, and immoral people have done with it. The goal of discipleship, evangelism, and ministry has been perverted and misused from the very beginning. Simon the Sorcerer, the father of modern-day televangelists, sought to buy the power of the Holy Spirit in Acts 8.
The mission creep or shift within many local churches has been from a healthy biblical one, i.e. the edification of Christ’s Body through our identification (baptism) and integration (service) into His Body through discipleship (sanctification), to an unhealthy cultural one of emphasis on self-help programs, personal salvation, and religious volunteerism.
Many “parachurch” organizations consider it a win to share their version of the gospel (or leave it out completely so as not to be offensive or to exclude anyone) or to demonstrate the love of Christ through acts of kindness and humanitarian relief. King Jesus’ goal was never relief of the temporal but the everlasting variety. He always used the finite and the things below to point to the infinite and the things above. His Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) has always been about the edification of His Body & Bride—not personal salvation.
Deuteronomy 17:17 reveals God's desire for Israel's king. It explicitly spells out that the king wasn't to partner with foreigners or have multiple wives a/o concubines. Solomon did, as we find in 1 Ki 11:1-3, and it had lasting detrimental effects. God's design was for the King to have and honor one bride. King Jesus fulfilled this by establishing, sanctifying, and glorifying His exclusive heavnely Bride, the Church, the one He died for. He declared that not even the Gates of Hades would not prevail against her.
While there are certainly a multitude of legitimate manifestations of Christ's one Body & Bride as local churches, Scripture is clear that its members, regardless of denomination, color, nationality, ethnicity, geographic location, language, level of affluence or poverty, etc., all belong to a single universal entity called The Church (Rev 7:9-14) ; Rev 21:22-27; 1 Cor 12:12-27; etc.).
In the 18th and 19th centuries, parachurch organizations began to emerge concurrently alongside unorthodox Christian cults like Mormonism, The Shakers, Seventh-day Adventism, and Christian Science. With freedom of religion enshrined as the new law of the land in the United States, a lingering distrust remained for instutional religion. Along with American Exceptionalism fueling the explosion of utopian religious communities and the rejection of state-mandated religious practices, ideal conditions provided for the proliferation of diverse religious expressions without fear of persecution or repression. So the parachurch organization emerged.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
As the Apostle Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 6:12, “It's true that our freedom allows us to do anything, but that doesn't mean that everything we do is good for us. I'm free to do as I choose, but I choose to never be enslaved to anything.” Then Paul reiterates this in 1 Corinthains10:23, “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible, but not everything is edifying.” This is so important because King Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.” If what we're doing isn't building up Christ's Body & Bride according to His revealed objective standard vs our subjective ones, He said we're actually working against Him. Consensus doesn't equate to correctness. That's 2 Timothy 4:3 in a nutshell.
Many local churches have no long-term vision or strategy for discipleship. If you ask them about a five-year or ten-year plan, it'll likely have to do with finances, getting out of or into debt through building projects, parking lots, playgrounds, equipment, etc. Proverbs 28:19 teaches us that without a godly vision, we cut loose and delve deeper and deeper into sin and folly.
Does your church leadership have a biblical vision that lines up with Scripture? Does it have a system and strategy in place to continually scrutinize and honestly evaluate all its partnerships and support efforts based on God's objective? Do they evaluate everything from denominational affiliations to supported missionaries and in-house ministries? Do they regularly assess with questions such as: “How is this building up Christ's Bride?” or is the church content to do the things it has always done because they've always done it? Without any systems, processes, and assessments in place, everything boils down to personal preferences.
The litmus test we’ll be held accountable to won’t be how big of a sanctuary we built, how many people we were kind to, how many sleeping bags handed out, how emotionally attached we were, how many parties thrown or the amount of fun our kids had, the level of humanitarian relief provided, or even the successful casting out of demons, the performance of great miracles, or successfully prophesying in His Name. Instead, Scripture reveals that success boils down to one simple thing: “Let all things be done unto edifying.”
Success isn't based on our subjective standards. It is an objective standard set by God regarding whether or not we truly are doing the Father's will. Are we seeking people out, welcoming people into the kingdom, and making every effort to integrate them as maturing disciples and functional members of the Body of Christ? Some might consider that a “works-based salvation,” forgetting that King Jesus said, “This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, proving yourselves to be My disciples.” His own brother, James, said, “So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead.”
Building up Christ's Bride “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God's Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ's fullness” is the divinely revealed will of The Heavenly Father. That’s the good work God prepared in advance for us to walk in. That’s us NOT abandoning our First Love. That’s our intentional rejection of false teachings and heresies. That’s refusing to tolerate the woman Jezebel. That’s our not being lukewarm. That’s our being truly alive in Christ rather than just having a reputation. That's our being the Proverbs 31 Woman who makes her husband known at the city gates. That’s what it means to be dressed in fine linen, bright and pure. That’s the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21. That's the spotless Bride whom Christ died for.
The Apostle Paul sought to ensure that the church didn't become a subjective free-for-all when he wrote, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Can’t you see for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you—unless you are found counterfeit?” Independent religious contractors who do whatever they see fit to do in their own eyes are those who will hear those fateful words, “Away from Me you workers of iniquity. I never knew you.”
There are some good parachurch organizations out there that actually exist to serve and build up the local church rather than themselves. J. Mack Stiles wrote a fantastic article for IXMarks on this topic which you can find >HERE<
Stiles identifies some marks of healthy parachurch organizations as:
Parachurch organizations are keenly aware that they exist to serve, protect, and build-up the church and not themselves. Organizations like The Bible Project, Ministry Safe, and The Joshua Project are great examples.
Parachurch organizations should make a clear distinction between parachurch and the Church. The Salvation Army identifies as both a religious denomination and an international charitable organization. Its typically easy to find a "center" near you, but try finding where they gather for worship. Rather than presenting itself primarily as a church with outreach ministries, The Salvation Army seems to present itself as an organization that seeks to "do the most good" and happens to be a church too.
Parachurch organizations should pay close attention to the trajectory and history of the parachurch movement. Stiles notes, “Almost no parachurch movements that existed a hundred years ago are now found faithful to the gospel.” This should tell us something.
Parachurch organizations tend to shift priorities from principles to pragmatism. Their trust typically migrates from desperate dependence upon the Holy Spirit to efficiency of skills, techniques, and programs. Content inevitably takes a backseat to methods and consensus.
Parachurch organizations should overtly seek out accountability to and relationships with local churches rather than setting themselves outside or above.
Proverbs 29:18 states, “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps God's instruction.” If we lose God's vision of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ for the purpose of advancing Christ's Kingdom to build up His Bride, then apostasy is right around the corner. Even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. Appearances mean nothing. With divergence from God's objective everything quickly shifts to our subjective opinions. When that happens, there's no way to avoid ending up like the nation of Israel during the time of Judges, “In those days, Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit in their own eyes.”
Local churches and leaders, let us renew our commitment to God's mission: the edification of Christ's Body & Bride. Let us not lose sight of His vision. Let's recall His instruction through the Apostle Paul, “Don’t despise prophecies, but test all things. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil.”
Grace & peace,
Kevin M. Kelley
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