haunting realizations

02Jan10

“Christianity has no cost in America. We’ve made it way to easy to be ‘born again’–perhaps much easier than Jesus intended. When do we get to the point at which we accept smaller numbers of intensely devoted people rather than feverishly investing in filling auditoriums and stadiums with massive numbers of lukewarm ‘Christians’ that Jesus promised to spew from his mouth?” — George Barna

“Are we more committed to packing our churches than penetrating our culture?” Bill Hull, “Choose the Life” p. 40

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

But,

We have made GO optional.

We have changed “all” to “some.:”

We have changed “teaching them to obey” to “suggesting” or “hoping they’ll obey.”

We have made disciple-making an insular process in a closed system.