My friend Ben had a good post on his blog about how the current downturn in the economy could provide churches an opportunity to "downsize" in order to more effectively minister in their communities, a profound concept, here's a (link). Christ Community is moving toward becoming an official church plant this year and we would covet your thoughts, prayers, ideas... Here's an article on us in the local paper.
"The common assumption within the North American church is that with the right curriculum, the right principles, and the right programs, values, and goals, the Spirit will act to produce the ministry outcomes we envision. This plug-and-play approach to ministry makes God a predictable, mechanical device and it assumes his Spirit resides within organizations and systems rather than people. In addition, this model of ministry requires a significant investment of money to pay for the buildings, programs, staff, and resources to run the programming. It depends upon the laity’s willingness to give their surplus time and surplus money to keep the church’s programmatic engines running.
But what happens when people have less surplus time and less surplus money—like in a protracted economic recession? Will the mission of the gospel simply have to wait until we can pay for more LCD screens and multi-media auditoriums? Or will we rediscover a different way of participating in God’s re-creative mission? This economic meltdown might prove to be one of God’s greatest blessings to the modern church. We may find that the gospel is an incarnate reality living within and among the people of God, not a program to be designed and marketed. And we may find that the reality of the Good News is transmitted via the human/divine medium of relationship, not simply the electric impulses of digital media."
1 comment:
I hate to see a post go without a comment, so I will comment to the fact that I do not have a lot to say. Interesting article.
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