1 John, Donald Miller, and Christ's Church

The Evangelical web-world is abuzz today with talk about Donald Miller’s post, “I Don't Worship God by Singing, I Connect with Him Elsewhere." In the post, Miller makes several statements reflecting a poor understanding of the believer’s relationship with the church, including the quote generating the most attention:

"So, do I attend church? Not often, to be honest. Like I said, it's not how I learn. But I also believe the church is all around us, not to be confined by a specific tribe."

In the post, there is a helpful "tweet this" in parenthesis after that last sentence. Call my cynical, but I think Miller is intentionally provocative and has successfully driven a lot of traffic to his site in the past 24 hours.

The purpose of this post isn’t to serve as a rebuttal to Miller. There have been several capable responses to the article that catch the main problems with it, including this one here or this one here.

There are two other purposes. First, I want to encourage you to commit to a church that proclaims the Gospel. Commit unreservedly and grow deep roots with the people around you. Denny Burk has called Miller's position "spiritual suicide" and he's exactly right. Grow in God's grace and love through a passionate love for His saints.

Second, I want to encourage those of you at Bethany Community Church to come this Sunday as we begin working through 1 John. This epistle by John to the church he loves will help you understand what true fellowship with God and other believers looks like. As we look through this series, I believe you will grow in your appreciation for Christ's church.