forget what you were expecting

From Jeff

I’ve grown up in church. My dad was and still is a pastor, even though there were a number of times when I’m sure he thought about getting out of this particular line of work.

my frustrations with church

I’ve heard it said that the church is the only army where we shoot our wounded, and I think it’s sad how much truth is in that statement.

I’ve been in churches long enough to see the downside:

• self-righteous superiority complexes
• political games and power-brokering
• hypocritical attitude toward morality
• traditionalism that borders on idolatry

The bottom line is that there are a lot of things that have gone on in the name of God that are simply atrocious. From the Crusades to the Inquisition, people have been using God’s name to vainly validate their own terrible biases.

I certainly haven’t seen the worst of Christian behavior with my own eyes, and I bet you haven’t either, but perhaps you like many others have grown to expect things out of church and “church people.”

let’s throw it all out!

I have met a number of people who tell me they have given up on church but not on God. I agree with them in many respects, but I can’t agree that giving up on healthy spiritual friendships is also good. Why can’t we just give up on all the bad church stuff and keep the spiritually healthy parts—the biblically true parts?

That’s what I’m all about!

Here are just a few things that we find in the Bible that should characterize the people who claim to know Jesus.

• humility in all things, placing God at the top of every list.
• deep relationships with others who share the faith, and a commitment to mutuality.
• passionate desire to become more and more like Jesus who loved us enough to die for us and to send his Spirit to maximize our potential.
• an eager joyfulness in using the unique blessings God has given each of us (wealth, health, talents, time, experience, etc.) to bless others in the same way so they too can grow as we have.

As you can see, this leaves a lot of room for various musical styles, gathering times, meeting locations, topics of study and more. We aren’t hung up on the externals. We are hung up on growing closer to Jesus and helping others do the same.

Curious?

I bet you’ve been to church before. Maybe it was for your friend’s wedding. Maybe it was for a special holiday service. Or maybe you were raised going to church all the time.

Regardless of your experience with churches in the past, I’m thinking there’s a part of you that’s still really curious—curious to know if a church can have deep relevance in our busy modern swirl of life.

We’re curious too. In fact, we’re trying to do something about it. We’re taking a risk and launching a brand new church experience right here in Lafayette to explore that question: How much difference can a church make in my life? What would it be like to be in a loving, supportive community of people who were really passionate about helping each other get a step closer to Jesus?

We’re taking a risk to rethink everything :: programs for adults and children that educate and inspire; sacred moments for spiritual reflection; easy-going, structured opportunities for spiritual conversation with peers. Are you curious?

Yeah, I bet you’ve been to church before, but I doubt you’ve seen anything like this. Curious? You need to come by for a visit.