God is original. Is your church?

God may not duplicate a method to accomplish his will and his purpose through his church. You will notice in scripture that God rarely accomplished his purpose in the same way. For example, when the children of Israel left Egypt by crossing the Red Sea, Moses raised his arms and the water parted. When the Israelites came to the Jordan River to cross into the Promised Land instead of arm-raising by the leader, the priests first had to put their feet into the water before the swollen river parted. Same purpose, different method. Also, consider when Jesus healed the blind: one he touched, another he spit on, and another he spit on the ground and then put the mud on his eyes. Same purpose, different means. Regarding the salvation experience, Jesus said to Nicodemus that he had to be born again but to the woman at the well he said she had to drink living water. Same purpose, different words. My contention when it comes to church is that God uses different methods and different means to accomplish the same result, seeing lives changed. More than anything church should be about the business of changed lives. While only God can do that, he can use us to accomplish his purpose. How God accomplishes that purpose will be unique to each church. All too often churches and their leaders will copy what another church is doing. I don’t see God doing any “cookie cutter” ministry in scripture. While many things are similar, God is about new. God seems to have a unique and original plan to accomplish his will and his purpose.