look up the stats

Here’s a quote taken from page 101 of Transformational Church by Ed Stetzer and Thom S. Rainer.

I believe the biggest reason Christians in general experience so little transformation in their lives is that they ignore the Bible’s relational mandate for how to effect change. We were never meant to live the Christian life alone. Christianity is an interdependent, community-oriented faith. And yet when we set out to improve our prayer life, or deal with our anger problem, or increase our income, or become a better father; most of the time we work on it completely alone.

Tony Stoltzfus, author of Leadership Coaching

Some astute observation from the above writers: for as we say at phoenix-metro: community trumps isolation: and Jesus trumps everything: and as for religion? Well, in it’s well embedded institutionalized dogmas and power structures: it somehow manages to almost completely remove relationship from the picture: one of the ultimate ironies considering the trinity is the supreme example of relationship: something not obviously taught with any sharp focus in institutionalized thinking; the ‘Sunday go to meeting wearing a mask to hide the reality of ones own life’ is completely contradictory to the message; but it is: alas, carried out with consummate aplomb by many folks come Sunday: I agree totally with the above quote: but if I had written it myself: I think I would’ve replaced the word Christian with what I see as a more accurate term: ‘believer’: for at the sad, frayed, tired, worn out, ‘devoid of any relevant insight’ end of the Christian perspective and thinking; we still find the illusion of rugged individualism being ‘sold’ as the real deal: but Jesus came to bring community: for He would not bring and teach what He was not part of would He? And He was/is and shall forever be part of the Trinitarian community:

honest: open dialog enabled Paul and Peter to publicly sort out their differences: rather than hide behind a web of half truths and machinations: there are too many people in the Kingdom protecting what they regard as their ‘own’ position, place and part in it: not making any real attempt at passing the baton: forgetting that at some stage in their own past; someone past it to them: oh the irony: somehow forgetting also that ‘no man is an island’: and ignoring the thoughts of such folk as MLK Jr who said that: ‘we exist in an inescapable network of mutuality; a single garment of destiny’:

mutuality and a single garment require community: community requires advocacy: empowerment: enablement: and most importantly love: and love is open and honest: not a clanging cymbal of passive aggressive nonsense wrapped up in a veneer of ‘christian’ respectability.

For I saw His face; now I’m a believer. I didn’t see His face and become religious.

We need to remove mindsets that lead to apathy and atrophy:

What does "church" look like when you take it out of the box, re-envision it: replant it, and let it grow more organically? It's going to stretch and challenge us; as it should: it's going to take on openness to forms and practices we’ve never seen before: it will remove the false comfort provided by the mindsets that would happily ‘stay at home in the same familiar surroundings and structures’. To my mind, Jesus was the arch usurper: not a lazy boy and slippers kinda guy. He was a bloke. Not a standoffish, pious pseudo intellectual, touting His swag bag of supposedly relevant qualifications.

Churches should, could, would, might, maybe meet in pubs, or homes: or strip clubs: are you knee jerking yet? Where did Jesus hang out? I rest my case.

Churches that have no I AM leader, or have leaders who don't look like any pastor you've ever known: if I had a nickel for everytime I’ve been judged for looking the way I do: (by church folks) I’d own Berry Gordy’s mansion in Detroit by now.

Pastors should hosts discussions and enable dialog: and then enable others to do the same: not bore us with relentless monolog: a community should have as part of its culture the desire to listen long and deep to doubts and questions before presenting the answers: Jesus is a mystery; so maybe your dogma should surrender to the mystery: rather than the other way round?

Churches shouldn’t be so highly leveraged that buildings swallow up 80% of the gifts and offerings: what a waste.

So where should one draw the line? And therein lies the point: we've now entered an age where we no longer know how to draw lines, because the old criteria just don't work anymore; it’s been found wanting: how many folks do you know who are in full blown recovery from fundamentalism: the current institutionalized modus operandi excludes the vast majority of the people whom we were charged with interesting in the gospel: belief in Jesus isn’t plummeting like a suburban off a cliff face: but ‘belief’ in Christianity is. Look up the stats.