Week 52 Revelation
This morning I was thinking about churches. Seven specific churches. Ephesus Smyrna Pergamum Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia & Laodicea.
I thought about ranking them: Best-to-Worst. In the end I figured it was a waste of time. I already knew who’d land at the top and bottom ends. Smyrna & Philadelphia would be #1A & #1B (I’d probably flip a coin to decide). Laodicea would be #7. The other four would be harder to put a number to.
I thought of other NT congregations. Rome. Corinth. The Galatian group. Philippi. Colossae. Thessalonica. Each one of them a bit different from all the others but lots of them in that middle-range mix of some strengths along with some weaknesses. Some of them heading generally up. Some tilting down. Some idling in neutral.
Anyway my tendency is to think that operating independently (being personally free of the church) has its merits. One big problem is that by the time I get to the book of Acts I know the standard practice is for independent believers to band together into something like Incorporated Believers Guilds. So overall it seems that forming a union is most common. For me it’s also preferable to going it alone.
I’m not much of a New Year’s Resolution guy. But it crosses my mind that a) being a better church-team player would be a good 2024 aim for me. And that b) my church Gold Standard should be something along the lines of the Smyrna-Philadelphia Model.
Note: I’m finished Revelation. Tomorrow: Genesis 1.