Sundays

I had a great Sunday, got up late, washed the car, watched a DVD with my boys, had a great meal with friends then played the board game Risk, which I won!

This was us as a community sharing life together and just being church, we didn't have any bible stuff, prayer or worship we were just together. Of course we do the other stuff, but it is fun just to hang out.

This is perhaps one of my greatest concerns, that people don't find valid expressions of church, that they attend meetings but never engage in a meaningful community.

I knew a person who had disengaged from church, she said to me "I am okay with God it's just the people" That can't be true if you are not okay with the people you can't be okay with God. God loves the people...

John Wimber once said "you can choose your friends but not your relatives" I think sometimes we treat church like a friendship group when the reality is it is family. We can't be selective about family, but we are about friends in church.

The idea that the weird bald guy, in yellow t-shirt, who smokes and has a prophetic flag waving ministry is your brother not your friend, is hard to get our heads around.

Now saying that there are people who we will go out of our way to befriend in church, black people, ex cons, pretty people, handsome people, couples with good incomes.

Read this great little quote on Andy's blog.

"The Minister looked out over the congregation. Around 2,000 had gathered for morning worship in this surburb of Sydney, Australia. Every eye was on him as they awaited his message for that morning. “Many of you are here, but you don’t want to be here,” he began. “You are tired of church but come out of obligation. My suggestion is that you leave and don’t come back. But if I can be of any help in what you end up doing for the kingdom, then give me a call.”

It wasn’t the only thing he said, but I have confirmed from the Minister that this remarkable invitation actually did happen. It reflected his belief that modern church structures and life stifle true engagement with the world, and that church can be seen in broader ways than we have traditionally come to define it. Some 1,000 left, many to form Christian communities based in workplaces across the city. The announcement didn’t come out of the blue. The Minister had been preparing his congregation for some time....."