Is the focus of our church activities aligned with the biblical call for the church?

Jeffrey D. Johnson expresses concern about churches losing focus amidst growing numbers and increasing activities. While none of these activities like fellowship meals or sports activities are inherently bad, they can often become a distraction, leading to a lack of clarity about the church's primary mission. According to Johnson, the focus should always be on the gospel and the five ordinary means of grace.

Johnson's perspective is that a church should be known for its commitment to the gospel and the accurate teaching of God's word, rather than a plethora of programs and activities. The temptation to be 'all things to all people' can dilute the core mission of the church, making it difficult for members and outsiders to identify what the church stands for. His preference is for a simple model of church that aligns with the biblical mandate and the practices of the early church.

1 Corinthians 2:2 (NKJV): 'For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.'

Too many churches are so focused on small ministries, Like you said, a preface of ministries and trying to do this and do that, and that they lose focus. It's easy to lose focus, especially as the church grows. It's one thing for a small church to stay focused, but if a church keeps growing, there's a momentum to do more and more things, more and more activities. And some of these activities we wouldn't say is bad. You know, if you want to have more fellowship meals or get the kids out to play softball or whatever it may be.

These are not like inherently evil things to do. But often churches get so busy in their calendars that no longer does the church member know what the church is actually doing. And one of the things I want to be true of our church, Church of Our Pastor, Grace Bible Church in Conway, Arkansas, I don't want people to go, hey, that church has a great, great youth program, or the church has this great, great women's program, or this church has And once someone says this church is known for something other than the gospel, or other than one of the five ordinary means of grace. I think if the church, people say, man, this church is, man, the gospel is here, or the word of God is accurately taught, then it's like, okay, that's what you wanna be known for. And often churches can be known for everything under the sun.

And maybe they're not known for anything because there's got so many things going on, it's hard to identify what is the church actually doing. And so I think there's a place for different activities, but often I think we get sidetracked and lose our focus. It's like, what does Scripture say the church is to be doing? And what did the early church do? Let's do that well and do it so well that everybody knows that's what the church is doing.

So I'm more for a simple model of church as much as possible.