Over the last year or so I have met a number people who when I ask about the church community they are involved with tell me ‘Oh I just attend Impressive & Funky Baptist Church. We don’t actually get involved – we just go on Sundays. Its very good’.
I’m getting close to asking someone ‘so when did just attending
become an option you could choose?…’
These conversations have sparked me to write an article that is a critique of the way we have done church and the inherent weaknesses in the system. It is still in process but I’ll throw it up here when its done
Those of you who know me would realise that even though I am taking an ’emerging/incarnational’ approach to our own situation I am not (and never have been) hostile towards the established church. I believe we need many kinds of churches and that there is a place for different expressions of the body. I am a product of the established church and I am grateful for my experiences that have shaped me to this point.
But we are on a different journey because we believe there are some significant flaws in the system.
I have never articulated them before, but this one issue has started my motor and rather than just look at the ‘passive consumer’ problem in isolation I thought I’d take a shot at the whole system. I am not up for defining ourselves by ‘who we aren’t’ but maybe these things need to be said…
Its a little way from completion, but when it is I’ll throw it up on here and wait to be crucified!