In an email I received recently, there was this quote:
He said, “Too long, the church has been a refuge for Christians from the world, rather than a force to transform the world.” Almost every thing done in church (or on the Christian web) is done for Christians. Only a small percentage is done to reach the world for Christ.“The church has become irrelevant in the world,” he said, “because it has closed itself off from the world to provide a refuge for Christians.”
And it has had me thinking….what do I really want in a church? How many times have I either said, or wished I could say, ‘Man, it is so good to be here with brothers and sisters, away from all that nonsense out there in the world. I just need a break from it all.’?
And yet I have no doubt that my wife and I belong where we are in the racing community, just being there, being available, being Church to our friends.
It seems kind of a paradox, I want two opposite things. The question is, what should the Church be? Or perhaps even is it possible to be both a refuge and a transformational force?
I don’t know, what do you think?
Posted on August 25th, 2004 by Paul
Filed under: What I'm Thinking
good stuff, paul! I wrestle with the same sort of things… with the tension between being a broken individual deeply in need of God’s grace & a loving community to uphold him in his weakness, and the desire to win souls for Christ & His Kingdom. I definitely agree that the church should TOTALLY be about doing BOTH!
peace to you & know that you are not alone as you work through this stuff…