Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Do you like Jesus but not the Church?


My church is starting a new mission/ministry in our downtown community. You can check it out here. We're asking a question that many of us in the Church don't ask enough - "Do you like Jesus, but not the Church?" Many Christians/church people get offended by a question like this. We wonder how it is that people don't like the Church. We also may be offended by a church going out and getting into conversations with people about this question. But it's reality and something the Church must begin to face. There are many people in our culture who have serious struggles with us and "church." And avoiding these real people or just saying they are "lost" is not the answer. Jesus calls us to radical evangelism. I say radical because we in the Church have pretty much turned evangelism into a "committee" that plans events, etc ... but doesn't do much to get out into the real world where real people are. Radical evangelism is the evangelism of Luke 15 - where Jesus hangs out with the people of society that the Church of His day ignored. I for one have been like the Church of Jesus' day and ignored the world around me for too long. Maybe it's time we really think about who we are and what we're called to. Maybe then we'll be able to begin a real conversation with people Jesus loves - who exist "outside" our church walls.

Monday, April 14, 2008

LOUD LIVING


Starting a new series at Quest this Sunday. Been challenging as I've begun to study and prepare for it. The premise is that everyone's life speaks/says something. But when our lives say something for God they speak LOUD to the world in such a way that others are drawn to Him. Thing about it is ... in culture today this is best accomplished through our LIVING (instead of our words). The Church culture still has alot to learn about this, in my opinion. We tend to think the best thing to do is to SPEAK about God instead of simply LIVING for Him.

Looking forward to this series ...