Great Quotes on Church/Community

"Well , I may not know much about God, but I have to say, we built a pretty nice cage for him ."
Homer Simpson after helping some island natives build a chapel.

We humans are notorious for taking something Scripture describes as a reality, giving a term to it and thinking we’ve replicated the reality. Paul talked about the church that gathered in various homes, but he never called it ‘house church’. Houses were just where they ended up in their life together. Jesus was the focus, not the location.
-Jake Colsen, So You Don't Want to go to church Anymore

"You should realize that the Bible neither describes nor promotes the local church as we know it today. The local church many have come to cherish—the services, offices, programs, buildings, ceremonies—is neither biblical or unbiblical. It is abiblical—that is, such an organization is not addressed in the Bible.”
George Barna in Revolution

"It’s hard to imagine a more depressing place than a room with a few hundred people expecting community to happen to them."
Brian D. Mclaren in Leadership Journal

Rescued
A man had been stranded on the proverbial deserted island for years. Finally a boat comes into view, and the man frantically waves to draw its attention. The rescuers turn toward shore and arrive on the island. After greeting the stranded man, one looks around and asks, "What are those three huts you have here?""Well, that's my house there.""What's that next hut?" asks the sailor."I built that hut to be my church.""What about the other hut?""Oh, that's where I used to go to church."

“Nothing makes people n the church more angry than grace. It’s ironic: we stumble into a party we weren’t invited to and find the uninvited standing at the door making sure no other uninviteds get in. Then a strange phenomenon occurs: as soon as we are included in the party because of Jesus’ irresponsible love, we decide to make grace 'more responsible' by becoming self-appointed Kingdom Monitors, guarding the kingdom of God, keeping the riffraff out (which as I understand it, are who the kingdom of God is supposed to include.)"
Michael Yaconelli in Messy Spirituality

“I have concluded at this point that the most dangerous enemyof Jesus-brand community is viewing community as an ideal to be achievedrather than as a gift to be received."
Ken Wilson in The Promise, Pitfalls and Pursuit of Jesus-brand Community

Is there a common thread here? Yeah, I think so. Church/community is something that happens when

People gather around Jesus.

Nothing less and so much more.,

Jesus is loved,

you are loved,

I am loved,

Life is shared,

truth is spoken,

grace is poured out without exception,

people are set free,

gifts are released.

Simple isn't it

A Tale of Riding Dead Horses

This is taken from a article in Focal Point, a publication from Denver Seminary. Dr Haddon Robinson gives an illustration of organizations and dead horses. He is playing off the old bit of wisdom "If the horse is dead, dismount". Pretty obvious wisdom but often in these days many organizations don't have a firm grasp of the obvious.

The writer Karen Peterson came up with some alternative strategies that organizations often use to deal with the problem of dead horses.

Change riders (If you can't do the job of riding this horse we'll find someone who can!).
Appoint a committee to study the horse (After all, we mustn't rush to judgment. Perhaps the horse isn't really dead, but sleeping).
Attend a seminar to increase riding ability (When in doubt, blame the rider and question his abilities).
Get a stronger whip (even if this doesn't motivate the horse, it will make the rider feel better!). (My favorite!)
Enroll in a seminar to learn how others ride dead horses (Perhaps if you improve your technique no one will notice that you lack substance).
When there is nothing else to do, remember, the time honored wisdom of desperate organizations: "No horse is too dead to beat!"

Dr. Robinson added a couple of ways that churches and other Christian organizations handle dead horses:

Preach a series of sermons assuring listeners that "this horse is not dead!"
Keep reminding people of how strong the horse looked when it was alive and hope that they won't notice that it has died.
Pray that the dead horse will be resurrected.
Move the dead horse to a new location.
Label anyone who points out that the horse is dead a "heretic" (or a person of "no faith").