Part 2: The Collapse of the Church Culture.

Written by Maurice Goulet


Part 2: The Collapse ofrepparttar Church Culture. By Maurice Goulet

A person who claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ claims to have a relationship with him. This means they know him, not just about him (this was Paul's claim in Philippians 3:10). Yet we have turned our churches into groups of people who are studying God as though they were taking a course at school or attending a business seminar. We aim atrepparttar 126786 head. We don't deal in relationships. And we wonder why there is no passion forrepparttar 126787 Lord and his mission? It's because, in our effort to disciple people, we've been barking uprepparttar 126788 wrong tree.

We have made following Jesus all about being a good church member. We are training people to be good club members, allrepparttar 126789 while wondering why our influence inrepparttar 126790 world is waning. The truth is,repparttar 126791 North American church culture extracts salt fromrepparttar 126792 world and diminishesrepparttar 126793 amount of light available to those in darkness who need to find their way.

Inrepparttar 126794 modern world, how would we typically approachrepparttar 126795 spiritual learning objectives we've just identified? We'd write a curriculum, produce a conference, convene a class, create a study course, recruit a teacher or other expert, sign people up, teachrepparttar 126796 material torepparttar 126797 students, and pass out completion certificates. Then we would wonder what would happen or change as a result ofrepparttar 126798 experience. The truth is that we have very little evidence that academic or conferential learning changes behavior. I submit that there has never been more teaching or Christian education inrepparttar 126799 history ofrepparttar 126800 world than there is inrepparttar 126801 US today. And yet, one survey indicates that only 9% of people who say they are 'born again' have a Biblical worldview. The question we should be asking today is how Do We Develop Followers of Jesus Christ?

The academic model forrepparttar 126802 last several hundred years involved an expert (teacher) who had information and disseminated it to less-informed people (students). This wasrepparttar 126803 basic plot that developed into millions of episodes of death-by-lecture.

Students can now obtain more information overrepparttar 126804 Internet overnight than a teacher can deliver in lecture form in a month's time. The issue now is learning, how to make sense out ofrepparttar 126805 information that is available. The agenda is more and more being set byrepparttar 126806 learner. Another way to say this is that we have grown up with a Greek approach to education inrepparttar 126807 modern world. We are now returning to a Hebraic approach that is much closer to what we see Jesus using. One aspect of this is thatrepparttar 126808 learner/disciple determinesrepparttar 126809 curriculum.

Inrepparttar 126810 modern world, it is believed that spiritual formation is accomplished by taking a student through a prescribed group of texts that addressed topics in a curricular approach. This is so deeply ingrained in us that we approach almost any learning experience inrepparttar 126811 church this way. Inrepparttar 126812 world that is dawning,repparttar 126813 curriculum approach to growing people is increasingly viewed as a supplemental strategy torepparttar 126814 primary approach: learning agendas driven by life issues and informed by life experiences. Jesus facilitated spiritual formation in his disciples by introducing them to life situations and then helping them debrief their experiences. He taught them to pray. He did not lead them in a study course on prayer. He took them on mission trips; he didn't read books to them onrepparttar 126815 subject of missions.

The consistent challenge I run into when discussing small groups isrepparttar 126816 prevalent notion that small groups should function primarily in a curriculum mode (a bible study, text-driven experience). This is why groups can move from one curriculum piece to another and never experience any real growth. In pre-modern and postmodern culturesrepparttar 126817 home was and isrepparttar 126818 center for spiritual formation. Consider this quote from Marvin Wilson: "Foundational to all theory onrepparttar 126819 biblical concept of family isrepparttar 126820 Jewish teaching thatrepparttar 126821 home is more important thanrepparttar 126822 synagogue. In Jewish tradition,repparttar 126823 center of religious life has always beenrepparttar 126824 home" (Marvin R. Wilson, "Our Father Abraham", p. 214, 216).)

Part 1: The Collapse of the Church Culture.

Written by Maurice Goulet


Part 1: The Collapse ofrepparttar Church Culture. By Maurice Goulet

Having traveledrepparttar 126785 four corners of this country, I have witnessed firsthand,repparttar 126786 imminent demise andrepparttar 126787 collapse ofrepparttar 126788 unique culture in North America that has come to be called church. This church culture has become confused with biblical Christianity, both insiderepparttar 126789 church and out. A growing number of people are leavingrepparttar 126790 institutional church for a new reason. They are not leaving because they have lost faith. They are leavingrepparttar 126791 church to preserve their faith. Not only do we not need God to explainrepparttar 126792 universe, we don't need Jesus Christ to operaterepparttar 126793 church. It’s written inrepparttar 126794 word that inrepparttar 126795 last days of this age Christ is outside ofrepparttar 126796 Church knocking and looking for anyone who is willing to let him in. Many operate like giant machines, with church leaders serving as mechanics. The Lord doesn't have to show up to get done what's being done. People no longer wantrepparttar 126797 powerless God ofrepparttar 126798 modern church.

Some are asking, how Do We Do Church Better? Allrepparttar 126799 effort to fixrepparttar 126800 church missesrepparttar 126801 point. You can buildrepparttar 126802 perfect church and they still won't come. People are not looking for a great church. Most ofrepparttar 126803 growth of mega churches represents people transferring from small fishing boats to cruise ships. The real question should be, how Do We Deconvert from Churchianity to Christianity?

I have observed that there is a spiritual awakening occurring in America. However, it is not informed by Christian theology, and it's not happening inrepparttar 126804 church. God is pulling end runs aroundrepparttar 126805 institutional North American church to get to people inrepparttar 126806 streets. God is still inviting us to join him on this quest, but it isrepparttar 126807 invitation to be part of a movement, not a religious club.

The Church Growth Movement that began inrepparttar 126808 1970’s had both some things that were right and some things that were wrong. Here's one ofrepparttar 126809 wrong things: Unfortunately, it fell victim to an idol as old asrepparttar 126810 Tower of Babel,repparttar 126811 belief that we arerepparttar 126812 architects ofrepparttar 126813 work of Christ. As a result, we haverepparttar 126814 best churches men can build, but are still waiting forrepparttar 126815 church that only Jesus Christ can get credit for. I say this because I hearrepparttar 126816 wrong question asked frequently. How Do We Grow This Church? How Do We Get Them to Come to Us?

In their quest to be attractive to potential congregants, churches added staff, added programs, added buildings (including full health clubs), all to improve their market position. And it worked! A study released in 2002 found that one-half of churchgoers attended churches inrepparttar 126817 top 10 percent of church size.

Keep in mind all of this has been done with what results? Diminishing returns! In other words, overall church attendance continues to decline. We can keep on this track just to watch even more dismal results, or, we can change our focus to: How Do We Transform Our Community? How Do We Hitrepparttar 126818 Streets withrepparttar 126819 Gospel? The Pharisees' evangelism strategy sounds eerily familiar. Their approach to sharing God was, "Come and get it”. Jesus' evangelism strategy directly challengedrepparttar 126820 Pharisees' approach. Instead of "Come and get it" it was "Go get'em".

Jesus' strategy was to go where people were already hanging out. This is why he went to weddings, parties, and religious feast day celebrations. Takingrepparttar 126821 gospel torepparttar 126822 streets means we need church where people are already hanging out. We need a church in every mall, every Wal-Mart super center, every Barnes and Noble.

Bottom line: we've got to takerepparttar 126823 gospel torepparttar 126824 streets. This isrepparttar 126825 only appropriate mission response torepparttar 126826 collapse ofrepparttar 126827 church culture. I am not talking about short forays into ports off ofrepparttar 126828 cruise ship. I am speaking of an intentional 24/7 church presence inrepparttar 126829 community.

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