eat more work less

i had the opportunity to sit in on a Bible study class on Sunday and there was one comment that stuck out to me. it wasn't bad or made outside the lines of context, or wrong by any means. in fact it was terribly revealing. the class has been discussing Donald Miller's message called Free Market Jesus and a young lady said we shouldn't be trying to sell anyone Christianity.

i totaly agree, but my mind began to have a flashback similar to what you see in a movie complete with surround sound and i heard people of my past talk about christianity, the church, God, Christ, the Holy Spirit. they spoke of them as pieces of a program. this program they spoke of is one that "works" for whatever purpose they were going for.

in my ears i began to hear words that were words of the business world. they were words that people use to pursuade others to following.

words of a salesman.

if you tak an outsiders look into church, do you see
institutions?
do you see businesses?
or do you see a movement?
do you see a revolution?

have we taken christianity and put it inside the walls of denominational doctirne creating a well oiled institution?

have we taken scriptures and put boundaries on them in order that our church or program might provide a service to our customers that aligns with what they want?

when did christianity move away from being led by the Holy Spirit and replaced it with Vision Statements?


last week a question was given to me that i've been fleshing out since i heard it.

imagine that you are shipwrecked on a deserted island. you can read, you know of the outside world but have no past experience with church. on this island you find a copy of the scriptures and you begin to read. for the next five years you read the scriptures over and over, totally immersed in the story of these men and women. after five years you are rescued and taken back to the states. as your feet hit the ground, you begin to swell with excitement about being a part of this body of believers.

the question i want to pose to you from this story is, "what would you expect the church to look when you got back to civilization?"

think.

what would you expect to see?

what would you NOT expect to see?

how would the spiritual leaders act?

what would the church's focus be?

how would followers of Christ live?

what would they be concerned with?

what would "church" look like?

what it be about a building and where believers meet?

if Jesus was "pastor" at a church would anyone want to go there? would you go there?

these are all big questions and i realize that. i have hours of contemplation and conversation up on you about this. my good friends Sheldon, Evan, Jacob and myself had a great conversation that lasted almost 2 hours, and before then, Sheldon and I had a pretty intense, conversation on these issues so i've got some time on you. now i'm handing the questions over for you to ponder.

i want us to think about this because we have the responsibility as believers to do be the church. and being the church means doing things scripturally

so, this week we will leave the newsletter open ended for you to think.

if you've read this far... i ask YOU to respond to the big questions as well as sub-questions.

get together with others who aren't believers and ask them. you want honesty, go to the lost.


Go
think
talk
discuss
ponder
pray
meditate
write
talk
pray
eat
conversate

after you've done this.... email me what you're thinking.

let's dive in and ask God to reveal Himself to us.

but be ready, God may just ask you to change something, remove something, tweak something, step up, lead, teach, disciple, or give something up.

i ask you to prayerfully consider the question at hand and let your heart be poured out.

i'm excited about what God WILL reveal to you.

peace be with you.