Church in Pictures Pt. 2
Is the church still relevant?
I pose that question as a person who loves the church. A local Baptist churched changed my life at 18. I’m currently on staff at a small Baptist church that is seeking to transform an urban neighborhood. I believe in the church.
Yet, I see many churches that are filled with people on Sunday morning that have no impact on the community. They might as well have boarded windows. For example, the city of Waco has 143 Baptist churches alone and over 400 churches in total! It is one of the most churched cities in the U.S. Yet, look at the condition of Waco. It has over double the homeless population and double the amount of families living in poverty than the average city. The crime rate is unbelievable (Check out some stats). Is the church relevant to the homeless, those living in poverty, or those affected by crime? Let’s not even make it that hard. Is the church relevant to those who live across the street from the building?
I want the answer to be “yes.” I pray the answer is “yes.” I want to see the church fulfill it’s role as bride. I have some thoughts coming. Please feel free to leave some notes on how the church can impact the community.
Hello,
I’m not sure I’d say the church is NOT relevant. But I do believe the church is broken. I do not see much evidence the church is achieving the mission established by Jesus. If you want to see more of my thoughts about this, you can check out a post I wrote on the subject. On my blog you will find the post titled, “Christian Churches – A Broken Tool.”
By the way, these are fantastic pictures you’ve chosen for this post. Thanks a lot.
I checked out the post…loved the idea.
I’ve been thinking recently about how the church has become less relevant because of our creation of a separate Christian culture apart from the so-called “secular culture.” I think this is a great part of our problem – we’ve largely separated ourselves from the rest of the world, and in the process have made ourselves largely irrelevant. And I’m not just talking about typical Christian culture stuff like gift items, books, movies, music, etc. I’m also talking about the church itself. The church is mainly for those who are Christian – those who are separating themselves from the rest of the world. What if we completely rejected this separation?
Anyways, that’s what I’ve been thinking about…seems at least somewhat related to what you’re getting at here.