Restoring Apostolic Faith

There’s a quiet but widening gap in the modern church—a gap between what’s preached and what’s practiced. We’re told to “grow in maturity,” yet handed the same beginner’s meal week after week. The message is gentle, familiar, and non-threatening—but so is a lullaby.

Each Sunday, the pattern repeats. A verse or two is lifted from its context, polished until it shines, then used to reinforce an emotional high. The focus isn’t on understanding the text, but on feeling uplifted by it. Pastors call it “freedom in Christ,” but too often it’s freedom from thinking. Prayer lines form, hands are laid, tears fall—and next week, the same crowd returns for another fix.

This is not discipleship. It’s dependency. And it quietly isolates those who hunger for more. The ones who study, who question, who trace words back to their roots and wrestle with meaning—these are often left standing in a crowd that doesn’t seem to notice the loop. They aren’t better than anyone else, just awake to the cycle. But awakening can be lonely.

Spoon-feeding while preaching maturity is spiritual malpractice. True growth comes through wrestling, questioning, and learning to feed oneself on the Word—not waiting for another emotional spoonful on Sunday. A healthy church equips believers to think, to discern, and to seek God directly. Anything less keeps them circling, mistaking movement for progress.

Christ didn’t die to keep us dependent on the pulpit. He called us to become mature sons and daughters who carry His truth with conviction and clarity. Freedom isn’t a feeling—it’s a responsibility. And it’s time the church remembered that.