Let the Church be the Church

by George DeHoff
via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 18 No. 4, December 1992

The business of the church is to preach the gospel of Christ. It exists for this purpose. Without the gospel, men are lost. The gospel is God’s power unto salvation (Romans 1:16). There is nothing else that the church does that some other organization isn't doing the same thing, and sometimes doing it better. If the church is not going to conduct a militant campaign of preaching the gospel, it might as well go out of existence. And that is what it will do unless it preaches the gospel.

It is not the business of the church to operate colleges, soup kitchens, relief kitchens, summer camps, youth centers, entertainment bureaus, ball teams, and the like. If the church goes into the entertainment business in an attempt to reach the people (reach them with what?), men of the world will say, "That’s real Christianity." But if the church preaches the gospel, men of the world will become displeased - that is the purpose of gospel preaching; to cause them to become dissatisfied with their condition and to become Christians.

Every inch of the ground which we now occupy has been gained by gospel preaching, by a campaign of teaching the facts to be believed, commands to be obeyed, and promises to be enjoyed. Every Christian should teach, preach, dispute, confute, rebuke, and exhort, and whatever else is necessary to get men to know the difference between Truth and error. This is the work of the church.