Watchout For WOLVES: Keys To Discerning Authentic Ministries & Evaluating Doctrinal Trends

day, it takes less and less time for the world to become different. We could cite all kinds of statistics to support this but I will just highlight two. The top ten jobs in America listed in 2010 did not exist in 2004. Also, the amount of technical information is doubling every two years. As a result half of what students study in university in technical fields will be outdated by their third year of study. The second part of this premise is that the church must have the ability to adapt to that change. The church is an adaptable institution that will function well in every time zone, political setting and culture of the world. The challenge for the leaders of the church is to be adaptable to world changes without compromising the Gospel or the clearly revealed principles of the Bible. The Church has always been characterized by change that is related to the context or environment in which it finds itself. This premise acknowledges the fact that the Church was built by God to reach all people from every generation, every nation under every circumstance. If the context of the church is persecution, tolerance or freedom, the church can adapt its forms. If the context of the church is Eastern, Western or Developing World, the church can adapt its forms to become all things to all men. If the context of the church is the 1 st Century or the 21 st Century, the church has the power to be relevant, prophetic and to meet the needs of the world in which it exists. In an effort to be relevant, it helps to know what the “essence” of the church is and what the luxuries are. What is that which is universal and what is only preferential? Premise 2 –

As we move forward through this study we will refer back to these premises.

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