Lets begin...

So I stated this blog in September and this is only my second post. I really have a lot to say don't I?
I love Ed Stetzer and David Putman's book, "Breaking the Missional Code." It really puts into words how I believe we need to "do church." So many people are doing church, the religious thing and the message is not going past the pews, chews or stadium seating. I would tell you this suck but I have trouble taking it out of the church as well. In their book Stetzer and Putman discuss how the church has moved from its original purpose, the Great Commission. A lot is mentioned about church planting. When I moved to Oklahoma I could not believe how many SBC church there were not to mention the other denominations. There is a church on every street comer. I could not believe that Oklahoma needed another church. Now, after "doing church" in Oklahoma, I believe more along the lines that each church has a purpose and possibly an affinity group to reach. What is yours, mine, ours? In Colorado we don't have the buffet of churches that the bible belt does. Which means to grow we must be appealing to a larger variety of people. But I don't want to be appealing...

Stetzer and Putman also discuss how we should learn from international missionaries. We send them to language school, teach them about culture. What do we do in the US? I had a front row seat to what we do here. A new pastor came in and basically implemented what he had done at his previous church. If it worked at a somewhere else it will work here too. Problem was he moved from metropolitan Texas to rural Oklahoma. We should be just like international missionaries we need to go to language school and learn about the culture where we live.

It is easy to see the church as a country club and I believe many are. Serving only club members. We are missing the point. The focus of the church cannot not be on the church. It has to be on the community in which God placed it.

I could rant about the issues of the church for hours...what am I doing to change the perception and the direction?