Simplicity and sincerity

For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.  – 2 Corinthians 1.12

It all started out so simply. Jesus and twelve men was all there was. They picked up an few more followers and it still stayed simple. The early church started and thousands were saved but those early days were ones of simplicity and sincerity. They met, they sang, the prayed, the broke bread, they baptised, they evanaglised, and they loved and cared for those around them.

But my how things have changed.

'Simplicity and sincerity' certainly does not describe vast segments of the church today. It seems that in some parts of the modern world the church has become complicated, complex, and confusing. Fleshly wisdom seems to take the place of that simplicity and godly sincerity. Too many churches are focused on their plans and programmes and properties than on people and poverty. It is the later, not the former, that our early brothers and sisters focused on.

We now see churches as a successes based on the size and wealth of their church campuses. Simple preaching and fellowship and taking care of the poor have been replaced with coffee shops and family centres and megaplexes. Some churches biggest concern now seem to be which chandelier to buy for the new auditorium instead of how to take care of the needy outside their doors.

Something is wrong. Where is the simplicity and godly sincerity that Paul writes about here in the church today?