Each church has an all-you-can-eat buffet of ministries and programs to get involved with, often listed in helpful summary format within your weekly bulletin.
How about that, right on the heals of the Willow Creek study that found out that programs are basically worthless...but he continues:
American Christianity has no belonging. Consequently the body has weakened and atrophied. We are attempting our tasks and striving to fulfill our function in an anemic state. How unfortunate. The body of Christ was meant to represent Christ. Yet, for all practical purposes Christ's body is still wheezing in the grave, too weak to emerge and make a difference in the world.
The most fundamental aspect of the body of Christ is true belonging. It is only when we truly belong that we can begin to make a real difference in the lives of the 21st century believer and demonstrate to the world that the body of Christ is, in fact, alive and no longer lying, weakened and cold, in the grave. But this cannot occur until each member belongs to all the others.
<idle musing>
Amen, brother! Preach it!
Oh, wait...in order to belong, we need to be willing to give up our independence, become vulnerable, trust the Holy Spirit, actually care about other people and not just ourselves. Nope! Cost is too high; back to the programs! At least we can control the intended outcomes—and bury those studies that show us we are wrong! Rewrite the scriptures to make God over in our image, since it is obvious that our models are more correct than God's! I mean, we know that business models are better than scriptural ones, right?
But, isn't that how we act? God, forgive us!
</idle musing>
1 comment:
There is an interesting post over and Church and Pomo by Jason (an architect) on the way buildings affect us, tying in with our love affair with bigger and better buildings. It seems to me that the bigger the building the less likely that true community is taking place. So, I asked Jason whether it was even desirable for the church to have a building. Maybe groups of smaller buildings scattered throughout the community???
I await his response.
"The Geometry of Architecture and Church"
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