Intellectuelle

Great post, Sarah!

In an effort to reach the non-Christians in our culture, I think, we have begun to look at how best to cater to their wants, in the hopes of enticing them into the fold. Such an approach, imo, merely reinforces the narcissistic bent of our culture. Rather, shouldn't we be teaching - and practicing - Christianity? Could it be there was a reason God gave us 66 books of written word? We have access, here in the West, to countless Biblical resources, unparalleled in history... isn't it reasonable to conclude that we should take advantage of them, not simply to build up our own knowledge, but to make disciples?

Rusty, thanks for your comment! I believe we got to the predicament because in recent decades we've taken a similar approach to older generations, entertaining them instead of preparing them for ministry. This is the end result. So it seems we want to repeat the vicious cycle.

This is a good post, and I went to look at the link @ Unchristian. I have some opinions on this topic from spending time on "Unchristian" forums. It is one of those topics that really demands a careful analysis because there are layers to what is going on and what is being said.

"Christians are supposed to represent Christ to the world. But according to the latest report card, something has gone terribly wrong. " quoted from UnChristian intro.

Finetuning:
No, we are called to witness to the truth of Jesus Christ. We do represent Him in that way, but it doesn't mean we are perfect facsimiles. I think that idea of representation is at the root of the bad report on us.

Not all Christians are hypocrites, not even if they are faulty Christians. There are new definitions at work on what makes for hypocrisy... along with the old ones.

I do think you are right about a lack of knowledge of theological Christianity. For one thing... the critics are operating from a premis that they know what Jesus Christ is like. I say most of them don't and it skews the way we look at their criticism. Shoot. Some of us are mistaken about what God is like and what He calls holy and godly in us.

So we have to look beyond the general accusations and get some specifics, and then we have to hold those to the theology. And then we can start considering what to do about it.

But we do need to start doing something, because there is a great deal of hostility in the culture that is going unconfronted by the Chruch ( maybe we will serve coffee and movies and they will all suddenly just like us....or have nurseries and day care and .. and sport centers... and theatricals.... and and give out free....)

sorry, I couldn't help myself. You got it about three lines back.

Sarah, there are also traditional churches that are just sort of...stuck, and there are probably many reasons why. Lack of confronting sin might be one reason, as well as lack of vision or desire to reach out of comfort zones. The result being that they sort of stagnate, and don't know what to do except maintain the status quo and take care of themselves. "Ingrown" is the word a friend uses to describe it.

If I had to go out on a limb, I'd say that Christianity for them gets defined by "church" and certain lifestyle choices, so that the transformation wrought by confronting oneself in light of the gospel ceases to happen much.

Then "church" becomes a social group that "outsiders" don't feel they fit into.

Our church's purpose, as stated in its motto (for lack of a better word) is: "To Know Christ and Make Him Known." The thing is, the second can't happen without the first.

Which is a long way of saying that I completely agree with you that discipleship must be the first focus of a church.

I also concur with Ilona that asking those outside of the church what they think of the church is kind of like the doctor asking the patient for an opinion of his diagnosis. That said, though, a church certainly needs to pay attention to its hospitality factor, while distinguishing hospitality from kow-towing.