Coming soon……

Those who set out to reform the Roman Catholic Church as well as the Anglican Church (The Church of England) spawned a later movement that is often referred to as “The Great Awakening” or “The Great Revival”. This period in history (17^th through the 21^st century) will see the church grow immensely and the gospel message (The Good News) will spread to large unreached regions that will witness the transformation of lives from small tribes to large ethnic groups who (prior to this time) never heard the gospel message or the read the Scriptures in their own native tongue.

New movements and new Christian organizations will develop and “be the church” to a world who are in desperate need to hear the Good News that Jesus Saves! There will be Gospel Crusades, Revival meetings (large and small) and other venues that will witness masses of people crying out to God and submitting to Jesus as their Lord and Savior. In addition, organizations (often sponsored/supported by the church) will reach out and help to feed the hungry, provide medical aid and relief to those in need.

There was no longer just “one voice”, one council, or even one denomination that spoke for believers. The local church often led by a Pastor/Shepherd who themselves felt led or called by God through the leading of the Holy Spirit will lead/guide their local congregation.

While many Christian denominations, Christian leaders and other Christian groups find disagreement on many things – the one thing we must agree on is that Jesus is the only way to the Father – “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)

In the same way that these evangelists, preachers, reformers, theologians, pastors, teachers, apologists, and apostles boldly proclaimed the Good News of the Gospel – we too must carry the torch of faith until the Lord Jesus returns as he promised. The message of the Gospel (The Good New) remains at the core of what the church believes, and the church continues to declare that message until Jesus returns. “Behold He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes will mourn over Him. So, it is to be Amen. I am the Alpha and Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:7-8)

The Church Grows Up – Part 3 of a 4-part series.

As the Roman Empire began to lose their grip on the world and new countries and other new empires began to form, and along with that new religious and political leaders rose to power. By the time of the next Millennium, the church began to look different. The Great Schism of 1054, brough about a division between the Western Church (headquartered in Rome) and the Eastern Church (headquartered in Constantinople). In addition to those “Orthodox” systems of worship, other groups emerged that chose not to follow those systems and “dissented” or rejected certain doctrines they felt were contrary to the Apostles teachings.

These changes, along with the cry for political, religious, and social freedom (brought on by the Magna Carta and other writings), the invention of the printing press, the translation of the Scriptures into Latin and eventually into English will shed light on the compromise and corruption within the Church at large that had been going on for centuries.

The church which remained as small as 2 or 3 believers gathered together and as large as the Roman Catholic Church looked different than it did during the times of the Apostles – but the message of the gospel remained the same. What will come as a result of the Reformation are new “denominations” such as Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Anglicans which developed out of “Protest”, and they became identified as Protestants making them “different” in practice and doctrine than the Roman Catholic Church. Other “Orthodox” churches such as Greek Orthodox, Coptic (Egyptian Orthodox), Eastern Orthodox etc. will also identify separately from the Roman Catholic Church of the West. There will also be other “dissenting” groups who didn’t identify with the Roman Catholic Church, Protestantism, or other mainline Orthodox “religions” and pursued “religious freedom” following only the teachings of Jesus, the Apostles, and the written Word of God. These “dissenting” groups, along with the “Protestant” churches will emerge in the Post Reformation Period (1700’s to the present) and will lay the groundwork for a period of “Revival” that will see church continue in the fulfillment of the Great Commission until Jesus returns!

For this lesson we will focus on 5 key Reformers of the Reformation Period who recognized the compromise and even corruption that took a foothold in the Church during the Dark Ages. We should be thankful that these reformers boldly spoke the truth, even at risk of losing everything including their life. These reforms and the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers continued to see the church prevail for another 1000 years and more!