Lawrence Neisent

Fast Food Churches

I'm fascinated how many people we are meeting who are trying out churches, looking for a new church family that is more about substance than merely celebration. God is drawing his bride into a greater place of maturity and her appetite is shifting.
Jesus didn't die so we could merely go to church. You were born for more than pulling off a great Sunday! We should never gather as the church to hear a speaker. We should gather to encounter the Savior who has promised to be in our midst in a special way when we come together.
The church model with an alpha leader providing systemized procedures is a centralized expression that removes creativity of individuals - they are simply asked to cooperate with that which has been "proceduralized" for effective duplication. Decentralization is about mobilization and empowering individuals to discover the gifts God placed in them to be expressed to love their world well.
I certainly don't have all the answers. I don't feel like I even have very many answers. But I'm exhausted with all of the religious efforts that have been harnessed by corporate ideology in building organizations when the church is more of an organism than it is an organization. My concern is that the Lion of the Tribe of Judah has been in the midst of our gatherings but we've kept him caged so things don't get too uncomfortable.
Jesus we invite you into every moment of our lives and our gatherings. Have your way Lord Jesus!