Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Doin' The Shuffle
Milt Stanley linked to some David Fitch and quotes:
Now in business, competition is competition, it makes us stronger, but what about in the kingdom? Well, I guess if I thought mega-churches brought better Christianity, instead of the Christianity-light that I think they bring, I might feel the same way. You see the problem is that, as sinners, people do not necessarily want what we have.
Which points out a fallacy in the notion of "post-Christendom." One must ask, was there any more discipleship, genuine life transforming, Christ-centered, discipleship in "Christendom" than there is in today's culture-soaked mega-barn, media driven church? We must not confuse cultural dominance with discipleship. We must not confuse a pervasiveness of intellectual ascension with real, genuine life transforming faith and belief.
What we must remember is that the product we sell is not the church, nor is it contained in the church. The product we sell is nothing short than God Almighty, incarnate in Jesus Christ, and evident in the transformation of our lives. The church is nothing more than where we get together to talk about it - that is all the church has ever been. whether it was the church astride Europe as an empirical power, or the church persecuted and hidden in basements in the Soviet Union.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Culture has changed, but our mission, the work God has given us to do has not.
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A lot of my interaction with students, pastors and church planters is over the issues of post-Christendom and the revolutionary change required of us who seek to engage those outside Christ with the gospel. It truly is stunning to recognize how things have changed in this country over the last fifty years. Over and over again I hear the stories of churches and the lament "all we're doing is shuffling discontented believers from one form of church to another." Or I hear "another mega church has moved into the area and emptied out three traditional local churches." It's post Christendom and we're competing for customers.Anyone note the similarity to "Wal-Mart" in that pull quote? You know the complaint that Wal-Mart moves in and all the locals go out of business. Living in a major urban area as I do, I never really thought about it until I visiting my ancestral home in Mississippi. The coming of Wal-Mart has literally shifted the entire town. Downtown is dead as a doornail and all the retailers, all friends as my great-grandfather was one of them, are just gone. You shop at Wal-Mart, or you don't shop.
Now in business, competition is competition, it makes us stronger, but what about in the kingdom? Well, I guess if I thought mega-churches brought better Christianity, instead of the Christianity-light that I think they bring, I might feel the same way. You see the problem is that, as sinners, people do not necessarily want what we have.
Which points out a fallacy in the notion of "post-Christendom." One must ask, was there any more discipleship, genuine life transforming, Christ-centered, discipleship in "Christendom" than there is in today's culture-soaked mega-barn, media driven church? We must not confuse cultural dominance with discipleship. We must not confuse a pervasiveness of intellectual ascension with real, genuine life transforming faith and belief.
What we must remember is that the product we sell is not the church, nor is it contained in the church. The product we sell is nothing short than God Almighty, incarnate in Jesus Christ, and evident in the transformation of our lives. The church is nothing more than where we get together to talk about it - that is all the church has ever been. whether it was the church astride Europe as an empirical power, or the church persecuted and hidden in basements in the Soviet Union.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Culture has changed, but our mission, the work God has given us to do has not.
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