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(Re-posted from 2005): The Christian world, the entire Christian world, is permeated with a religious spirit.  It's in me, in others, in traditional churches, in house churches.  It is such a pervasive dysfunction that it's no wonder Jesus addressed it so forcefully. The religious spirit is not just "them," it's also "us."  We think, oh…

(Note this post is a rewrite of one I wrote in 2005). A friend passed along a sermon by Greg Boyd who was on an indefinite leave of absence from pastoring a large church.  He expresses his crisis of faith: My present crisis was precipitated precisely because the clearer I¹ve gotten about the profound significance…

I have likely done Donald a mis-service by only sharing my favorite quotes from a long post he wrote here which is all good and worth reading in its entirety. Nevertheless, here are a few of those 'sound bites' that stood out to me from "Why I Don't Go To Church Very Often:" I’d say half of…

"Between the traditional and the new, or between order and adventure, there is no real opposition; and what we call tradition today is a knit work of centuries of adventure." – Jorge Luis Borges quoted at ProdigalKiwi. Interesting quote.  It helps put some things into perspective.  If you are reading this blog you are probably…

I received the following email from Mike Lyons several years ago that bears repeating: I have made a promise to myself. I will stop inviting people to my church. Hear me out now. I spent nearly a decade with my well paid job in the church trying to get people to come to church. We…

I have found that the key to our gatherings is to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit– all of us. In my past life, as a pastor of a traditional church, I felt the responsibility to hear what God is saying and to pass that word along to "the people."  Of course, God's word is always…

Excerpts from James Barron: Religion is of this world.  Jesus is from heaven. Religion is all about the outward and seen.  Jesus is all about the inward and unseen. Religion tries to repair and fix the old creation.  Jesus made us a New Creation! Religion’s yoke is hard work.   Jesus said His yoke was easy.…

Skye Jethani explains how our culture's growing mistrust of large institutions is especially true of the Millenials' generation and how that will continue to impact the church of the future.  This is a generation that wants relationship and authenticity, not big programs.  Interesting… 

Sometimes simple truths are the most profound: A virgin birth One life (His) given in exchange for another (mine) A love relationship that He initiated Coming home Living wholeheartedly for the One who first loved me Following hard after Him No turning back Just come home… to be the church… in this… and in every…

Most of us have experienced paradigm shifts that have radically changed our thinking: From seeing the church as a building/organization to a living, organic system From honoring a special class of clergy to seeing that all are priests and ministers From viewing the church as a come-and-sit service to a go-and-incarnate movement But, we, as…