Just read a couple of really challenging posts.
Brant Hansen posted a great mini-essay (it’s fairly long!) on church, the American Dream, and the kingdom of God. Read it here. I love his honesty about the struggles he has with conventional church.
Shaun also posted some comments on Brant’s post here. (The title of this post is also the title of Shauns post, and comes out of Brants post.)
Here’s a brief quote (its all worth a read!):
I think I’ve taken one too many trips. I can’t listen to “Where the Streets Have No Name” anymore without crying. Here are a few of the faces I see:
In Calcutta, I met a little girl who looks just like the other uniformed girls in her Christian school in the slums…
Please tell me, again, about how we need to “attract” more Americans, using more features, to a building, when in some places, they have to fence kids from the church building, for lack of funds?
I think I am beginning to get to that ‘too many trips’ stage. I think it’s a good thing. What about anyone else? Any thoughts on this?
Hey there Emma, I am good friends with Brant. a couple blog entries prior to this one you are referencing is one titled:” We Quit Going to Church”. This discussion is what has snowballed into a very educating time for me personally. I to attend the same “home church” as Brant, in fact he is the one who introduced me to the folks there. I blogged about it and how it was an answer to prayer for me personally. God bless,
Shawn
Thanks for the comment Shawn, was good to read about your experiences and see your perspective on it too!