One of the reasons my head is so jamb pack is that I have been reading a book by Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways. Some of the topics that Hirsch has addressed in his book are some of the same beliefs that I have been wrestling with for the last several months. As I have been reading Alan's insights and hearing about his experiences I have been both confirmed and challenged with my own pursuit of God.
Most of these beliefs are centered around what the true Church of Christ is suppose to look like, how it is suppose to act, whether it is suppose to be attractional or missional, how the Church in the West has institutionalized Jesus' movement, how the Church today is breeding passive Christians, how Church marketing and branding is feeding our god of consumerism, and because of our consumerism the Church has devalued discipleship and increased the value of participation to the lowest common denominator, how the Church has gotten in the way of people finding Jesus, how today's Church leaders assume so many things because of their title, how church planters have mimicked the shopping mall experience and catered all the spiritual goods to their target audience.....and the list goes on and on.
So I will attempt to wrestle through some of these issues here in the weeks to come.
Peace,
MZ
