Rob Bell on Church

The Wittenburg Door has an interview with Rob Bell on their website. As usual with Rob there are some great quotes, but here is one of the best I have seen in a while.

BELL: Seven years ago, a group of friends were just dreaming of something better. I guess the natural evolution of each generation is to explore what it means. How to live the way of Jesus here and now. So we started and it now feels like fifty years packed into seven. Mars Hill is an old mall. Our "architect"—I say that as a joke—says everything about the church should scream "Welcome to our church service! Now get the hell out of here." We say, "This isn't the church, this is a church service. It's just an hour where we have some teaching, some singing and you'll hear about things in the community." If there are 43 "one anothers" in the New Testament—serve one another, carry one another's burden's, confess to one another—you can only do a couple of those in a church service. Until you have a community that you are journeying with, please don't say you are a part of this church. You just come to a gathering. We are very intentional about that. The question is, "Who do you call when your brother ODs on cocaine? If your mom is in the hospital, who comes and sits in the waiting room with you? When you cannot pay your rent, who do you go to and say please help me out?" That's your church.

You can find the entire interview at The Wittenburg Door.

This paints a really clear picture for me of what church should be. This is the type of church that I want to be a part of. This is the type of church that I want to help build.

Survey of the Unchurched

USA Today has published a poll taken by Lifeway, the research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, of US adults who do not attend church. This survey mimics many of those taken over the last few years that in essence say that most unchurched have a high view of Jesus and a low view of Christians and the church. Below are some of the highlights from this particular survey and here is a link to the USA Today Page.

Most of the unchurched (86%) say they believe they can have a "good relationship with God without belonging to a church." And 79% say "Christianity today is more about organized religion than loving God and loving people."

"These outsiders are making a clear comment that churches are not getting through on the two greatest commandments," to love God and love your neighbor, says Scott McConnell, associate director of LifeWay Research. "When they look at churches … they don't see people living out the faith."

But despite respondents' critical views of organized religion, Stetzer is optimistic. He cites the finding that 78% would "be willing to listen" to someone tell "what he or she believed about Christianity."

They already know believers — 89% of the unchurched have at least one close friend who is Christian, Stetzer noted.

And 71% agreed that "believing in Jesus makes a positive difference in a person's life."

Could this be because in most cases the people going to church are more worried about the process and not the relationships? Why do we spend so many hours in committees planning changes and discussing carpet color and who went to communion down the isle? Why don't we spend more time building our relationship with God and then our neighbors? I bet if we did, the results of this survey would be different.

Stuff

Here is a great website on the Story of Stuff. I have seen or read various versions of this story, but none are put together so well or go to this level of detail. This is a must see if you are a follower of Christ. We need to be much better stewards of our planet and each other.

More on Don Miller

The more I read from Don and the more I read about him, the more I like him. So here are several links to more information on him. Incidentally, I ran out today to buy one of his books and ended up getting three for the price of one all in a single hard cover. Be sure to check out his website below, he has several sample chapters from his books.

Don Miller
An Article about Don in Christianity Today magazine
The Belmont Foundation A foundation that Don started to help kids without a father.
Don Miller - Greatest Hits This is how to get three of his books for the price of one.

Enjoy!