I am off to Sydney to speak at a youth camp this weekend and then on to Brisbane to catch up with my mate Benny Zambra, then on to .acom National Retreat for the week. I come home Friday, head to Kalgoorlie the following Tuesday, into see my doctor Thursday(… no more kids…get it??) Then off to Melbourne the next week for Forge national conference for 5 days.
So I think I will just avoid the blog for a month. But as I am heading off to Forge National Conference I thought I would leave you all with a word from Mr Forge – Alan Hirsch…just in case you were wondering if he (or I) was anti-church… (I happen to love the Church!)
“…we are not denying the validity of the larger church. On the contrary, we firmly believe that we need a diversity of models of church in the emerging global cultures, and the large church surely must be one of the models. But that’s the point-it should be only one of the ways of doing and being church. We need eco-diversity to create long-term organic, spiritual, health.”
Taken from pg 211 of The Shaping of Things To Come
But just as a parting word I can’t resist this disturbing article on the state of the church I love, George Barna, credible researcher, suggests that this church of ours is heading down a dangerous path to destruction…‘not mine’ you say, ‘my church is doing fine’, this church he speaks of, The Church, is your church, – heads out of sand….now!
“In 2002 Barna wrote, “It is quite astounding that although Protestant and Catholic churches have raised – and spent – close to one trillion dollars on domestic ministry during the past two decades, there has been no measurable increase in one of the expressed purposes of the church: to lead people to Christ and have them commit their lives to Him.”
In 2005, [he] states, “Nothing is more numbing to the Church than the fact that it is mired in a rut of unfathomable depths. The various creative approaches attempted over the course of this decade have drawn much attention but produced little, if any, transformational impact.”
Like this:
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No Guarantees 
Amen… go the big V!
Yeh I get a little worried when everyone leaves something to pursue something … in 5 years that second something becomes what everyone leaves to pursue a 3rd and so called ‘better’ something.
So thanks for pointing out that quote … I needed to hear it, in a week where my head has been spinning with is their a right single model of church?
Reminds me of the fact none of our models will survive just on its own … God didn’t just tell us we are the body coz it sounded nice 😉
We need each other
Love the diversity 🙂
I didn’t know you were going to the FORGE conference. Will see you there. Any other “perth reps” going that you know of?
i’m just hanging out to see you mate. and i’m glad there’s quotes out there like that one, bringing some balance to what might otherwise be potentially seen as the church bashing emerging church movement. We forget that church is people reaching out to people – its not a style of gathering. So gather any way you want, but get people reaching out to people.
Hey Vawz, I *REALLY* want you to meet Col Duthie, my colleague at Catalyst when you get to Melbourne. He will be around on the Sat and Sun morning and we will be diong a stream together. Give me a buzz and let’s make sure it happens.
Just in case you were wondering, “diong” is Maltese for “doing”. And if you believe that, I have some property in downtown Melbourne you might be interested in purchasing from me at a very cheap price. Doh!