They may have to come to church without the worshiptainment if our economy keeps dropping like a rock.

I can’t help but think that the early Church also operated the same way. The signs and wonders got people’s attention. Can those signs and wonders backfire? Well, Acts 14 shows that the people called Paul and Barnabas Zeus and Hermes for the powerful works they did. (Note also how Paul appeals to God’s past benevolence in giving fruit and rain.)

You are absolutely right on miracle and message. They MUST go hand in hand. What kills me is when we drop one of those for the other. Spend enough time on the Godblogosphere and you immediately see the prominence of people who disregard entirely the miracle or who shun the message. Both of are mistaken positions. The Calvinist whose message decries miracles is just as bad as the Pentecostal who can’t get the message straight. It’s that classic either/or mentality that cripples us in the long run. We can’t make the Gospel into a cold, dead rational assent, nor can we turn it into parlor tricks. Yet that is what we too often do.

Thanks for commenting. First-timers are always welcome!

I don’t know if this is a “God of Money” thing. I don’t think people in Africa walk into a church thinking they’ll walk out rich. I mean, if I’m naked, a shirt, pants, and shoes given me in Jesus’ name will not suddenly turn me into a profligate!

Think Salvation Army here, too. William Booth understood that people have basic needs the Church can meet. It’s a lot easier to hear the message of Christ when you’re hungry and cold when the person telling you about Him has a bowl of hot soup to offer you. Know what I mean? I can hardly think that will ruin people forever!

In fact, the very reality that the early Church took care of widows and orphans probably got around to the widows and orphans in Jerusalem. Can we expect that they thought to check out what these followers of the Way were offering? Of course they did!

I don’t see this as the same kind of thing that some of these suburban megachurches do by handing out $20 to people to get them to come to church. The question is whether we set an expectation of always receiving something in return for being “faithful.”

In many ways we do. For the Christian, that reward reflects on earth and in heaven. We’re told to lay up treasure in heaven, so obviously, a reward system exists there. God always rewards us for faithfulness by giving us greater responsibility and putting us in more difficult conditions so we can help the really destitute and helpless.

Christianity doesn’t exist in a vacuum of reward. Our faith rewards us in many ways. Those may take on different apsects, but they are real nonetheless.