Friday, October 31, 2008

Friday Fodder

The gospel we preach shapes the kind of churches we create.
The kind of church we have shapes the gospel we preach.


Scot McKnight - A Community Called Atonement


Any thoughts?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

the life of the Holy Spirit that flows through us who believe upon Jesus...that is the church.
each one of us is represents the church...Jesus through the Holy Spirit is the church in us and through us.
do we create what kind of church it is...i think not.

we create nothing.
we shape nothing.
it is God.

so where does that leave the Gospel? who shapes the gospel? who preaches?
who is speaking through those that are called to speak?

the Lord we follow shapes us into the kind of people that takes Jesus to others that need Him and also fills us with what we need.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

Let my teaching fall like rain
and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants.

I will proclaim the name of the LORD.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!

He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just.

A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.


from Deuteronomy 32

Crowm said...

Thanks Nancy!

I agree with most of what you're saying. God does have a "destiny" in mind for the church.

My concern is people in the church have their own motivations for doing what they do. How else can we describe the reason for social barriers (even within places of worship)?

Cheryl Russell said...

I agree. There are a lot of "gospels" being preached out there, with churches to match.

God loves me.
Jesus died for me.
I can have hope in the Ressurection.

This is the Gospel that we should preach and live.

Crowm said...

Good to see you again Cheryl! I hope things are going well. Any bites on the house?

As for the post, you make a good point. The Gospel has been defined for us. The Church runs into problems (socially, theologically, etc.) when we attempt to redefine the Gospel in our terms.

Anonymous said...

i see the church as Jesus leading human spirits thruogh the Holy Spirit. i do not see the church as what it appears to be. so we must be discerning as to who is truly in the church of Jesus Christ. not all people that are members of or go to a organized denominational gathering are in the church of Christ, and not all people that do not go or belong to one of these religious organizations are in the chruch of Christ.

we must look at our self to see if we are in fact believing and living our life in Jesus through the Holy Spirit. not all believers are listening to the Holy Spirit speaking to their spirit all of the time. we can only pray for the saints in Christ and for our own belief as well.

and since we can not know, we can follow the Spirit in our lives and live a living relationship with our God. in this only can the Spirit share God with others.

it is the only way to build the real Church of Christ.

our main concern should be to be in fellowship with God in Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

Anonymous said...

to be clear i ment that only each of us can be responsible to be in relationship with God...

only in this way can the church of Jesus be built.

the main personal consern to be in fellowship with God...it is the only true place to start in God being able to unify us in Spirit.

otherwise we all are going about with our own agenda that is not of the Spirit.

Anonymous said...

well, not the only way that the Spirit can share God with others...but the main way through us that is.

Crowm said...

Right Nancy! The kingdom of God lived through us as the Bride of Christ.