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Church = More Secular Than Culture?
Posted by Mike Boyink
"We have a church in North American that is more secular than the culture. Just when the church adopted a business model, the culture went looking for God. Just when the church embraced strategic planning (linear and Newtonian), the universe shifted to preparedness (loopy and quantum). Just when the church began building recreation centers, the culture began a search for sacred space. Church people still think that secularism holds sway and that people outside the church have trouble connecting to God. The problem is that when people come to church, expecting to find God, they often encounter a religious club holding a meeting where God is conspicuously absent. It may feel like a self-help seminar or even a political rally. But if pre-Christians came expecting to find God—sorry! They may experience more spiritual energy at a U2 concert or listening to a Creed CD.”
Reggie McNeal, “The Present Future” Jossey-Bass, 2003
Via http://www.nextreformation.com/html/general/present.htm
Does anyone have a copy of “The Present Future” that I might borrow?
Comments:
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Here are my favorite sections of this post.
“Member values clash with missionary values. Member values are all about real estate, churchprogramming, who’s in and who’s out, member services, member issues ("am I getting what I want out of this church?"). Missionary values are about the street, people’s needs, breaking down barriers, community issues ("am I partnering with God’s work in people?") Club members are clueless about developing relationships outside the club.”
“Adopting a missional approach requires changing the scorecard. Church scorecards reflect member values: how many show up, pay up, and participate in club activities. These numbers are used to compare one church against another. A missionary culture needs to keep score on different things. These may include how many ministry initiatives we are establishing, how many conversations we are having with pre-Christians, how many volunteers we are releasing into local and global mission projects, how many groups use our facility, how many church activities target people who aren’t here yet… Until we bless people who go out from us to reach people who may not come to us, we will continue to have a kingdom vision that is shrink-wrapped to church programs and church real estate.”
Ed
Posted by on 09/06 at 09:08 PM