Re:New

Hello friends, just wanted to share some recent thoughts - both from discussions with Ben and friends, and from my reading of late.
I've started into a book we got at work a while ago - "THE FORGOTTEN WAYS" by Alan Hirsch - his tag is that its about 'reactivating the missional church'. He's a very practical, pastoral writer, sharing from his own struggles and successes in his ministry. What hit me tonight was how he shared about creating a hip, funky community church in a cafe - and yet, while it drew a crowd, it didn't transform them. They instead, became a group of people that were now so used to being creatively catered to, that they couldn't connect back into assemblies that were more 'old school' in their traditional church models. The key thing that he states is the problem in many churches - new and old - is that they are built on a consumption model. This is seen in the one man at the front, who usually spoon feeds the Word to the majority in the pews. As Hirsch notes, "We plainly cannot consume our way into discipleship". Building community without discipleship, is simply building another social club of consumeristic desires (i.e. we want it to 'feel good', entertain, and appeal to us).

I guess that's a bit of my headspace, how do we engage and encourage people to come and live in Christlike community most effectively? How do our churches serve that purpose... can we 'be the change' we want to see.... start a renewal from the inside out?

I guess for me the key is that I seek Christ first, above a desire for community... I need to abide in Him, as He doesn't NEED me to be doing His ministry, but He wants me to be close to Him and become more like Him.

That's all for now..... be well.