Thursday, February 10, 2011
Is It Safe?
Jeff Dunn @ iMonk:
It’s a dangerous world out there. Lots of things to be aware of. So I think it best to identify a safe place, somewhere you can be assured of not being bothered by all of the bad in this world. And I have found just the place.You know - I think he is right and it is about more than bookstores - we are building churches that are safe places to be rather than real places to be.
It’s your nearby local Christian bookstore.
[...]
My first job was in a Christian bookstore. To this day it remains one of my favorite jobs. I got to meet many new friends and help people get books that could answer their questions, or at least help them to ask the right questions. It seems that in the 1970s there were a lot more real books available than there are today. Maybe I’m just imagining it. But I don’t recall books that told us just how God wants us to get prime parking spaces at the mall or how that our every need would always be met the moment we asked. There were books about how when one walks with God, it is a great adventure in faith that sometimes does not end with a red ribbon tied neatly.
Church should be about solving, or at least dealing with, problems - not avoiding them. Step one to coping is admitting - AND FACING - problems. Even churches that do face problems seem to be facing someone else's - short term missions trips, social justice and other movements while great are often used as dodges to avoid the problems at home.
Now here is where it gets weird to me - Church is the safest place in the world to face a problem - at least it should be.
So what are we afraid of?
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