Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Some encouragement

This blog has been very cathartic for me. I've had the chance to share my opinions, hopes, frustrations and experiences with the Christian church. One side benefit to all this is an increasing boldness to share my thoughts outside of this blog. Writing helps me develop ideas more fully and get a better grasp on what had been nebulous concepts floating around in my head. And I've been getting feedback from folks that is very encouraging.

Last week I had the chance to visit with a pastor who isn't pastoring right at the moment. He's fixing computers. He expects to be back in a church someday. We had a few minutes to reflect on how churches operate and agreed that there is lots of room for improvement. A few weeks ago a woman who participated in the youth ministry at my church years ago wrote a very encouraging note in response to this blog. She shared her frustration with the church and how she longed to be involved with a church all year long that had as much impact as the one week mission trip we took each year. She was thankful to read something that echoed her concerns about the seemingly ineffective way we do church.

I'm encouraged at what seems to be an undercurrent of dissatisfaction. I'm hopeful that this will turn into a groundswell and then a movement. I pray that there is a genuine revival coming that will revolutionize the church. I don't know what this revolution will look like or what the end result will be. I'm happy just knowing it's a possibility because I fear the track the church is on now is leading to oblivion or, at least, irrelevance. And isn't that really one and the same thing?

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