Rebuilding the Church of God is not an easy task. When people see churches becoming empty buildings the temptation for the Church can be to look for the magic wand or “how to grow your church” manual written by some renowned author. Jesus said this to Peter about his Gospel: “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18). What does this mean, and why does our Lord say this to his people?
Often local churches become more focused on the pragmatics or practices versus the supernatural fact that the Church is always built by the power of God. Christ revealed to his people that he is the one and only who will do the building of his Church. Nehemiah’s call to mission to rebuild the City of God was essentially at its heart God’s Mission and his lament was driven by the Will of God alone (Nehemiah 1:4-11). The trouble we will face in any generation is do we rely on the Will of God and his strength to perform the good work to partner with him in repairing and rebuilding his Church, or lean too heavily on strategies and pragmatic wisdom? Or worse look for success within our own strength?
It is true for the past half century many of God’s people around the world have been looking to new modern forms of doing worship gathering in a bid to win souls for Christ. However, the model Christ describes is a simple one “I will build my church” meaning Christ himself shall be the designer and constructor of gathering people together for his Glory into a temple of living stones (1 Peter 2:4-9). Does this mean we just stay seated and weep for the state of the churches we are a part of today? By no means! God calls us to gather for his work. Our job is to respond in humble obedience together to the call of his mission. Just like in the days of Nehemiah, by faith Nehemiah turned in prayer to the God of heaven first, then he went to serve others.
The same should apply to us. We turn to God through his Son in our prayers, then come to public gatherings to serve others. Like the way of our Master the life we are called to live is one of being a living sacrifice. As we gather in God’s mission each week until he comes, we shall do it with others and not alone like Nehemiah and declare “The God of Heaven shall give us success.” For rebui
重建神的教會並非一件容易的事。當人們看到教會變成空置的建築物時，教會(群體)很容易被誘惑去尋找魔法棒或是由某位知名作家所撰寫的「如何讓教會增長」手册。然而耶穌對彼得講論祂的福音時説：「我還告訴你：你是彼得，我要把我的教會建造在這磐石上；陰間的權柄，不能勝過他。」(馬太福音16:18) 這句話是什麼意思？主為何要對祂的子民這樣説？
地方教會往往更注重務實或實用方法，而忽略了教會乃是靠着神的大能來建立這個超自然的事實。基督向祂的子民啟示：唯有祂自己才是那位建造教會的主。尼希米蒙召去重建神的城這一使命，本質上是神的使命，而他的哀慟完全是出於神的旨意 (尼希米記1:4-11)。我們每一代人所面對的挑戰，是我們是否倚靠神的旨意和祂的能力來成就善工，與祂同工去修補並重建祂的教會？還是我們過度依賴策略與務實主義的智慧？甚至更糟的是，只靠自己的力量去追求成功？
誠然，在過去半個世紀裏，世界各地許多神的子民不斷嘗試各種現代化的崇拜形式，試圖吸引更多人歸向基督。然而，基督所描述的模式非常簡單，就是「我要建立我的教會」。這表示基督自己是那位設計者與建造者，祂要為自己的榮耀，招聚人成為一座活石所建造的殿宇 (彼得前書2:4-9)。那麼，這代表我們只能坐着並為教會的光景哀哭嗎？絕對不是！神呼召我們聚集來為祂作工。我們的責任是一同謙卑順服地回應祂的呼召，就如同尼希米的時代一樣，尼希米先是憑信心向天上的神禱告，然後才起來服事他人。對我們而言也是如此，我們先藉着神的兒子耶穌基督向神禱告，然後在公眾聚會當中服事他人。
正如我們的主所行的道路一樣，我們蒙召是要過一個獻上自己，當作活祭的生命。當我們每週聚集、參與神的使命直到祂再來時，我們是要與他人一起而非獨自行動，如同尼希米一樣宣告：「天上的神必使我們亨通。」因為這重建神的教會之任務確實艱難，但神是與我們同在的。
