i saw this sally morgenthaler article via jordon cooper’s post. the article is all about how people interpreted her book “worship evangelism” as a way to just “do” quality worship to get the those who were not believers to come to church. of course, what happened was people actually stopped spending time with people who are not in a church. over the past few years she has been rethinking everything.
i think my favorite passage is the second to last paragraph.
jcpenney stores adopted a new motto a few years ago: “it’s all inside.” that may work well for clothes and housewares, but it doesn’t work so well for spreading the gospel. ah, but aren’t buildings important? yes, they are. jesus himself spent crucial time in synagogues and the temple. he affirmed that the worship of GOD is central to what it means to be a disciple. but here’s the catch. he did not make the building—or corporate worship—the destination. HIS destination was the people GOD wanted to touch, and those were, with few exceptions, people who wouldn’t have spent much time in holy places. JESUS’ direction was always outward. centrifugal. even in death, HE was broken and poured out for the sake of a needy world. GOD’s work may not be “all outside,” but if we look at where JESUS spent his time, i think we can safely say that most of it is.
instead of “if we build it they will come” maybe our slogan should be “if we’re faithful, we will go.”
my run for the day