Categories: church, Things that make our brains hurt
Thanks to all of you who put in your two cents’ to the question on my previous post, about what specifically makes church “church” for you. (Let’s see…I think that currently adds up to 14 cents.)
That converstation has prompted me to ask a followup question:
Several of you made references to the church involving the gathering of believers. Where does this idea come from? Not to say we shouldn’t gather, but what exactly prompts us to include the idea of gathering in our definition of “church?”
Categories: church, Things that make our brains hurt
Categories: changing mindsets, church, community, food for thought
So read parts one and two to catch up…
With my changing views on community, I think what I’m about to share here is the most significant factor–because it really demonstrates what can happen when we let community happen instead of make it happen. (And this is just what our journey looks like–not an inference as to what yours should look like.)
Categories: church, food for thought
One of the most profound paradigm shifts I’ve had over the past few years is my understanding of community, particularly the community of believers and individual communities of faith. It goes right along with the realization that the church really is the people, not the building with the steeple. (See, I made a rhyme! Do it all the time!)
Anyhow…ahem.
Categories: church, Meanderings (look it up)
Conversations from both here and over at Communitas Collective have got my mind running, so thought I’d better jot these thoughts down before I forget. 🙂
My blogger friend Kansas Bob, and newer blogger friend Al, together sort of made the point that it is not really enough for those of us disenfranchised folk to just point out the stuff that’s wrong with institutional forms of church…that we need to live out the positive effects of change in our lives. I truly agree with this, and I think it’s important to process that idea, to embrace the truth of it more than just verbally assent to it.
Categories: church, food for thought, Rantings
Categories: church, food for thought
Categories: church, food for thought, religion
We’re still finding our bearings around our new digs–not just within walking distance, but also in the area.
Comparing Denver to the Bible Belt…it’s different here.
I might submit that last sentence to a “best understatement” contest, if I can find one. 🙂
Categories: church, food for thought, Rantings
“So…if we’re not meant to be a business, what are we meant to be?”
How about a community?
How about a family?
How about a living organism?
You see, with all this businesslike structure we’ve shoved the church into, we have forgotten that the church is not a business–it never was. The church is people. When we make it about the other, we are trying to be something we are not. And the suit doesn’t fit.
Categories: church, food for thought
Let’s pick up the thread from part 1 by repeating something I wrote at the end of it…
This leads us to the most painful truth about church being structured as business…Because what is the bottom line in any business?
Money.
The bottom line is that when church is structured as a business, money naturally becomes the primary factor in the decisions that are made. And that can often create a huge conflict of interest between the interests of the organization, the best interests of the people, and the interests of the kingdom of God in general.