Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Managing a church
"In short, the modern world quite literally manages without God. We can do so much so well by ourselves that there is no need for God, even in his church. Thus we modern people can be profoundly secular in the midst of explicitly religious activities. Which explains why so many modern Christian believers are atheists unaware." Os Guinness
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3 comments:
whoa...ouch.
that is heavy
So, believers are actually unbelievers even though they believe:)?
Perhaps the use of atheist is a bit of a misnomer. The context of this quote has to do with secularization in the church. However, not secularization like some ultra conservatives would teach (those who complain that a church is too soft or too pluralistic). Rather, it is equating secularization with the logical conclusion of an atheists perspective, "I am in control of my future." Thus, we can do things in "God's name" and never listen to him. For example, I know some theologically conservative churches that have a tendency to get so caught up in "winning people for Christ" that they miss out on being disciples themselves. I always tell my volunteers "I don't want to create a program and then ask God to bless my efforts. Rather, I want to see where God is at work and join him. I want the program to be initiated by him, not my creativity."
So Guinness it getting to the ultimate punch line...who you are (and whose you are) is much more important than what you do.
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