During my retreat I finally finished the book, "Quittng Church" by Julia Duin. Although I do not agree with some of the conclusions of the author, I found it to be a thought provoking book. For me it raises the question of what people really need from church. Decades ago a person's whole life revolved around church. Now the church is just one compartment of a person's life. There is pressure to have worship experiences in which the music is done perfectly and the songs chosen are perfect. The preacher must be articulate, funny and good-looking (there goes any advantage I might have). The messages should be challenging. The bathrooms must be spotless and the nursery beautiful. If anything is off, then we might lose somebody. It is overwhelming to me, but there are some good questions I might leave you with:
- Why do you feel people are leaving the Church (any church not Judson) but not leaving God?
- Would a small house church have more benefit than a church? Why or why not?
- Is the worship experience on Sunday morning more important, or fellowship, or small group/bible study or outreach?
- Has the institutional church as we have known it been passed by and another way of doing church ready to be unleashed?
Some books lead me to more questions than answers. This was one of them. Respond if you like.....
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