extract’d

August 2, 2008

“Is it wrong or less spiritual to meet the needs of Christians who perhaps aren’t growing at other churches, who can move to the next level with Christ under the shepherding of a different church? Sure, this is important. If this is the goal of your church, fine. But be careful about calling this ‘growth.’ Churches can make a difference in some way with some Christians, but it’s unlikely they’re making a dent in culture by reaching the unreached or helping the truly disenfranchised.

…the death of so many churches is creating a feeder system for what some may call relevant or visionary or emergent churches. It is good that we are ‘rechurching’ America, but we also need to realize that when the feeder churches die off, everyone will feel the paucity of churchgoers. If we don’t focus on the ‘brand spanking new’ conversion of people, neighborhoods, and cities, in just a few short years, we’ll be going to refurbished church buildings…”

-from The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay

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